EXETER, R.I. — Molly Hastings had just bought a new home in town when she noticed the water line of the pond on the property creeping up.

“The house is on a very thin piece of land, and the beaver pond is most of the property,” she said.

The beavers dammed up the pond and raised the water level to a point that Hastings said was “nerve-wracking.”

She called the town and several divisions within the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, but their solutions didn’t seem satisfying for Hastings.

She recalled being told that she could apply for a permit and hire someone to trap and kill the beavers. But after seeing a 1920s aerial view of her new property that showed the beavers had a presence in the pond even then, Hastings knew she couldn’t get rid of them.

“They’ve been here so much longer than me,” Hastings said. “I mean, part of the beauty of the place is what they’ve created.”

There was another solution, mentioned briefly in one of her conversations: she could install a flow device that allowed water to move through a culvert on the pond while also preventing beavers from having access to it and damming it up.

Hastings started doing more research on the devices, took a class at The Beaver Institute in Southhampton, Mass., over the summer, and is now a beaver management professional.

Her company, Rhode Island Beaver Management, is the first of its kind operating in Rhode Island, she said, installing and maintaining beaver flow devices.

There are several different kinds of device configurations, but they all work by allowing a culvert or outflow to allow water through while preventing beavers from damming them up, which can cause flooding or the creation of ponds.

It’s a physical job, and although Hastings is currently a social worker, she has experience working outdoors for contractors in the past, she said.

The flow devices are site-specific, but one general configuration consists of adding a pipe extending away from a culvert — where a beaver might be attracted to the sound of running water and start to dam — and toward the middle of a pond. Caging around the pipe further prevents beavers from moving in. 

The practice is common in other New England states and is becoming a useful alternative in Rhode Island. ecoRI News reported on a beaver device that was installed in Burrillville over the summer.

Although it’s catching on, it’s a slow process. Over the past four years, the state has processed 81 permits to trap nuisance beavers and only five wetlands permits to install beaver device structures, according to DEM spokesperson Evan LaCross.

Hastings said part of her work so far has been getting the word out — she recently gave a talk at a Rhode Island Woodland Partnership meeting — and, so far, she’s heard there is a need for the devices.

“There’s an opportunity here. If I’m having this problem, surely other people are having this problem,” she said. “We know beavers are having a comeback.”

Beavers used to live in watersheds around North America in large numbers but saw their populations decimated after European colonization and expansive fur trapping. But more recently, with more protections for beavers and the decline of the fur trade, they are starting to see their numbers grow in Rhode Island and elsewhere.

While that could be a good thing for water quality and biodiversity, both positive changes beavers can affect in the environments they inhabit, it also means more changes to now developed areas, including flooding.

Hastings said her methods can be a good fit for folks who are having serious issues with beavers but feel squeamish about killing the creatures. Many people don’t realize when a beaver is trapped, state law requires that it be killed because it can’t be relocated.  

In addition to the environmental benefits of having beavers, she also noted, in a practical sense, that even when beavers are removed from an environment, they often come back.

“If you’ve had beavers once, they’re going to return, maybe next year and maybe five years … maybe 50 years,” she said. “That spot has been marked by a beaver, and another beaver is going to take advantage of that.”

For Hastings said she enjoys seeing the creatures around her property, popping out around dusk, or the signs of them she sees left behind.

“We’re not on speaking terms necessarily, which I think is good, in terms of wild animals should remain wild,” she joked. “But I see them snacking on their lily pads and their blueberries. I can often hear them doing their chomping. We made a little log pathway with some birch logs, and they stole all our logs.”

Hastings referred to her home in as “my beaver house” throughout the conversation.

“I think starting to consider these non-lethal solutions, or how to promote coexistence, hopefully will become more part of the dialogue,” she said.

---