Eagle Scout candidate Sven Lohse and a group of volunteers undertook a project to relocate the beaver colony that has taken residence at the detention pond at the east end of Greenville Heights Park on Saturday, April 8.
Beaver have inhabited the pond for several years and recently have begun felling trees, and they have dammed the flow of water out of the pond, preventing intended drying of the basin during non-rainy weather.
To encourage the beaver to relocate in a friendly manner, Lohse and his helpers installed a device called a “Clemson Leveler,” which is a simple perforated pipe apparatus that penetrates the beaver dam and allows the pond to slowly drain until it is empty. The “trick” of the leveler is that it releases and continues to release water that drains into the pond in a manner that is quiet and does not create the sound of running or falling water. Beaver instinctively respond to such sounds with the construction of a dam to create a impoundment for habitation.
The intention of the project is to allow the beaver to migrate without human confrontation. If the project is successful, Parks and Recreation staff will thereafter disassemble the remnant beaver structures, including the “hut” of earth, sticks and branches.
Lohse and his crew conducted some clearing of underbrush in the work area to make the site accessible for the leveler and will deposited the brush near Allen Heights Drive, so Parks and Recreation staff could collect it.