CLAY TWP — The rapid rate of development in the township has alarmed residents and leaders for years, but humans aren’t the ones driving the boom, township supervisor Dale Anderson said after a meeting Thursday night.

Rodents are.

The aptly named Beaver Dam Road, which runs a little more than 6 miles and passes near the heart of the township, has a problem with beavers, which have built two or three large dams that cause flooding along roads and place homes at risk, Anderson said.

They’re just building on residents’ properties and flooding the road out, Anderson said.

“That’s our main concern,” he said, referring to the road and three culverts near the dams that have struggled to contain the flooding.

“The water’s just sitting there,” said township supervisor Jeff Scott. “That stretch of road is saturated underneath, so eventually it will erode out of there.”

The dams present a real concern, because at one site the flooding caused by them reaches within about 50 feet of a home, township supervisor Dave Beachem said.

“The beavers just keep building,” said township secretary/treasurer Joann D. Duke. “It doesn’t matter if you pull something apart,” she said, referring to the dams.

Within 24 hours, the animals will be building again, Duke said.

Beachem said the township has been working to find a solution to this issue since it first was reported by residents a couple of years ago. But the township hasn’t decided on a plan of action at this time.

“We don’t have the funding or the equipment to get in there and pull these apart,” Scott said of the dams.

In addition to funding issues, a large portion of the land surrounding the creek that adjoins these sites belongs to Moraine State Park, which makes that land private property, Duke said.

“It’s not really stormwater,” she added. “It’s beaver dam water.”

Anderson said the township has met with county representatives during the last few months, including Tuesday, in an effort to obtain help. Specifically, it has sought help from Butler County Conservation District and the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

“There’s different parts of the county that want to investigate the situation down there, and then we’re going to meet again and brainstorm how we attack this problem,” Beachem said, referring to the county.

Scott said the township has lobbied for help from multiple organizations.

“You name it, we’ve called them,” he added.