Moraine Preservation Fund to assist Clay Township with beaver dam problem
CLAY TWP — The township may be getting close to a solution to its long-standing beaver dam problem, and not a moment too soon.
At a meeting in late April, Butler County commissioners approved a temporary easement and right-of-way agreement with the Moraine Preservation Fund. The agreement would allow them access to property in the township that is in danger of flooding due to damming from beavers.
The agreement will allow the fund to help both the township and the county assess the best means of safely removing the dams. The easement allows access to property surrounding an old railroad bed just off Beaver Dam Road, which has been unused for decades.
“It’s been like this for a while,” county Commissioner Kevin Boozel said. “Remember, it’s on Beaver Dam Road.”
While beavers have been a consistent nuisance in the township for some time, the dams and the resulting flooding have become out of control to the point where the water is dangerously close to encroaching on people’s property. For at least the past two years, residents have contacted Boozel and other local representatives expressing concern that the water may damage their homes.
“You could literally walk off the road into the water,” Boozel said. “It’s very close to one particular home.”
Township supervisor Dave Beachem said there are multiple homes in danger of being affected by the flooding, along with a bridge and a quarter-mile of road. The imperiled homes are along Timblin Road, which crosses perpendicular to Beaver Dam Road.
“It’s just overwhelming now. If nothing’s done, it won’t be long,” Beachem said. “Those houses are in peril.”
According to a recent check of the area, there are two large dams plaguing the township — one 700 feet long, the other ranging from 400 to 500 feet long — along with multiple smaller dams.
The goal of township officials is not simply to remove the dams, but to remove the beavers so they can’t rebuild them. Taking out the dams all at once is not an option, Boozel said.
“You can’t just tear out the dams all at once,” Boozel said. “You’d flood Route 8.”
County and township officials also have been in contact with the Pennsylvania Game Commission in the hopes of getting permits to trap the beavers out of season. The season for trapping beavers in the state is from mid-December to late March.
According to Boozel, if the dam issue is cleared up, then township officials are open to leaving the area around the railroad bed open to potentially be used as a nature walk or for a similar purpose by Moraine State Park.
Boozel also said that the Moraine Preservation Fund has been “more than amicable” so far.
