What is This?

You’ve likely noticed the jumble of trees lying along the boardwalk and in the marsh at Beaver Hollow. A couple years before the Friends purchased the property where Beaver Hollow is located, beavers dug a canal along the abandoned railroad grade from the marsh to a group of aspen along the grassy clearing where the pavilion is now located. The beavers felled quite a few trees, and removed the branches and leaves to cache in the pond by their lodge for winter food.

At the time the Friends began working to acquire the property, the level of the marsh was high and encroaching on the mowed, open area. Wanting to live in harmony with the beavers who created this wetland headwater ecosystem, our volunteers built a pond leveler. The pond leveler apparatus, sometimes called a beaver deceiver, allows water to flow through a beaver dam, maintaining the water level in the marsh at a pre-determined depth. Beavers repair dams in response to the sight, sound, and feel of running water. Pond levelers transport water through a dam in such a way that beavers cannot sense it and, therefore, don’t attempt to plug the leveler. Devices such as these can also be used to protect culverts.

Unfortunately, the beavers were trapped out prior to the Friends taking possession of the property. We do not currently need to install the pond leveler, and until we do, we’ll have it on display so visitors can see a simple, non-lethal method to control beaver flooding and live in harmony with, and derive benefits from, the presence of this keystone species. When beavers recolonize the lodge, repair the leaks in the dam, and raise the marsh water level once again, the pond leveler will be installed.