Living With Beavers: How to protect beavers and infrastructure

Sunday April 26th 1-3 PM

Alden Balch Memorial Library, 24 E Main St in Lunenburg; followed by an optional field visit to a Beaver Deceiver installation in Lancaster, NH.

Beavers are built for the water and they can’t live without it. That is why they are so dedicated to building dams to keep it in place. As beavers move upstream and down creating new ponds, the areas they leave behind become meadows and shrublands. These are all important places for many plants and animals, from moose to mink. This makes beavers a “keystone” species—one that is needed for other species to thrive. Unfortunately, for beavers and road crews, often the easiest place to make a dam is across a culvert. In addition, the lands they choose to flood may already be in use by people.

Do you want to learn more about beavers and how to live with them harmoniously? On Sunday, April 26, Essex County NRCD and the Town of Lunenburg will host a presentation on lives of beavers and the strategies for living with them. Naturalist Patti Smith will begin the presentation sharing what she has learned from beavers she has studied in the wild and raised as orphans, richly illustrated with photos and videos. Skip Lisle will then talk about how to solve beaver conflicts. Lisle is a biologist, founder of Beaver Deceivers International, and the leading expert on flow devices—structures that protect culverts and regulate water levels. Skip has been testing materials and designs for decades and has learned how to resolve conflicts in ways that allow beavers to create valuable wetland habitat. 

The presentation will take place from 1 – 3 pm at the Alden Balch Memorial Library, 24 E Main St in Lunenburg. The presentation will be followed by an optional field visit to see a Beaver Deceiver installation in Lancaster. The presentation is free and open to all thanks to funding from the Broad Reach Foundation. Sign up or get more info here or by contacting Sam Mayne at smayne.essexnrcd@gmail.com.