Industrious beavers can keep humans busy undoing their work The beaver population is exploding, and residents of Southern New Hampshire and the Merrimack Valley
are feeling the effects of that growth. Beavers are busy, particularly so at this time of year when the 2-year-olds are pushed out of the lodge to make way for the next litter of kits. The adolescent beavers are forced into new habitat, where they will build their own lodges and dams. And that’s where the trouble often starts. North America’s largest rodents are industrious and persistent. But their construction projects often conflict with those designed by humans. That conflict can result in flooded roads, driveways, septic systems and wells. And beavers don’t back down without a fight. Knock out one of their dams and they’ll get right to work rebuilding it.
Windham highway agent Jack McCartney and assistant Steve Hindes will enter knee-deep water to pull beavers’ handiwork from a culvert one day, and return the next day only to find the opening clogged again.