PORT ANGELES — Beavers and landowners are going to learn how to work together at Meadowbrook Creek in Clallam County.
County commissioners unanimously approved an agreement with the state Department of Ecology on Tuesday for a beaver coexistence project.
The project awarded the county a no-match $34,500 Terry Husseman Account grant to help reduce flooding caused by beavers in the Meadowbrook Creek area and educate professionals and the public about the importance of coexisting with beavers.
“I joke [the beaver coexistence project] sounds like a commune out in the forest somewhere,” Commissioner Mike French said during the commissioners’ work session on Sept. 9.
Meadowbrook Creek, a tributary of the Dungeness River located about 4 miles north of Sequim, has a relatively robust beaver population, county administrator Todd Mielke said.
“Beavers do what beavers do,” he said. “They are Mother Nature’s engineers, and they build dams.”
Those dams are flooding private property and threatening to overwhelm nearby culverts and road crossings, according to the county documents.
In the past, beaver populations often had been dealt with by lethal trappings. However, county habitat biologist Cathy Lear said during the commissioners’ work session Sept. 9 that while local landowners don’t want to be flooded, they’re interested in learning how to work with the beavers.
That is where the coexistence project comes in.
The project will have three components: a field professional workshop, installation of a pond leveler and community outreach and information.
The workshop will be aimed at educating practitioners on different techniques for dealing with beavers and how to install a pond leveler, which is a pipe that will be installed on the upstream side of the creek that moves the water underneath the beaver dam to the downstream side of the creek.
Mielke said a beaver’s building instincts are set off by the sound of trickling water. Piping the water underneath the dam and letting it exit underwater on the downstream side may reduce the flooding without setting off the beaver’s instincts.
“Because you’ve softened the noise, hopefully it dispels the beaver’s desire to go build a bigger dam,” Mielke said.
After it is installed, the structure will be monitored for about a year to ensure it works.
“We’re looking at this as additional tools in the toolbox, not like the ultimate answer,” Lear said.
The county and its nonprofit project partner, Beavers Northwest, also will educate the community by hosting at least one community presentation and posting educational materials to the county website.
“Public outreach is going to be critical here, I’m sure,” Commissioner Randy Johnson said.
That part of the project will aim to outline the benefits of beavers and techniques to co-exist with them, Lear said.
“Beavers are a part of our ecosystem. They provide so many benefits,” she said. “They create habitats, they help with water storage, they can help with flooding.”
“We’ll look forward to coexisting with our beavers,” French said.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
