County works to trap, kill beavers in Lake Terrapin

WOODBRIDGE — The days are numbered for beavers that have made their homes in the Lake Terrapin neighborhood.

Prince William County officials on Monday began inspecting one of its stormwater retention ponds (one of the hundreds it manages) at the residential neighborhood at the intersection of Lake Terrapin Drive and Spriggs Road near Woodbridge.

“It’s not a question of whether or not the beavers are there,” said county spokesman Jason Grant. “We know the beavers are out there.”

Beavers that make their homes (a beaver dam) in stormwater retention ponds can block the flow of water through these manmade structures with ease. This, says Grant, is what the county doesn’t want.

“The county owns the ponds and we have to maintain the integrity of those ponds,” said Grant.

Beavers that burrow in these ponds can cause more flooding issues downstream, as well as damage to property. Once damaged, county taxpayers are on the hook to fix the stormwater ponds, which is funded by the county’s nearly $10 million stormwater management fund.

County workers set traps that kill the beavers on site. State law prevents the beavers from being captured and relocated, said Grant.

It’s the trapping and killing of the animals that has some neighbors upset.

“The residents find this solution cruel,” said Nicole LeBlanc in an email to Potomac Local. “Part of the lake overflows across the walking path built around the lake when the beavers build in a certain location. Instead of working to deter the beavers, or work with the beavers, the quickest and cheapest solution is used. Beavers are territorial and once one family is eradicated, another moves in.”

“…we are supposed to be top of the food chain.  We can’t figure out a drainage issue that doesn’t involve a jacked-up cycle of beaver murder?” asked Beth Capello, another Lake Terrapin resident.

They have been researching alternatives to trapping and killing. Instead, they’d like to see something like this (PDF) — a small device developed by Clemson University in South Carolina, and constructed form PVC material called the “Clemson beaver pond leveler.” It allows water to flow through a beaver dam and, according to the universities records, “can be very effective in reducing flooding in certain situations, such as a beaver dam….”

The device is not a substitute for beaver population control. “The leveler provides the opportunity to live with, and occasionally derive the benefits from the presence of beavers,” according to university records.

“We’ve been looking at other alternatives to nuisance pests,” said Grant. “Obviously, there is not anything we can do with this in the phase we’re in right now.”

The decision to use alternatives to trapping and killing the beavers will be weighed by the costs, and whether or not the new method produces the desired outcomes to protect the stormwater management ponds.

The use of any new method would be funded with monies from the stormwater management fund.