Progress still to be made on flooding in Clay Township
More than a year after Clay Township and Butler County began efforts to mitigate flooding along Beaver Dam Road, progress has been made toward making sure the road no longer lives up to its name.
In October 2023, Butler County allocated $75,000 for the removal of dams set up by beavers in Muddy Creek, which runs underneath the road. At one point, it was estimated water from the creek was just 3 inches from cresting the surface of the road, while also putting several nearby properties at risk of flooding damage.
Butler County Commissioner Kevin Boozel, who has helped spearhead the efforts to relieve the flooding in Clay Township, said the initial efforts have paid off and the flooding has receded somewhat, as crews working on behalf of the county have used machinery to slowly break down the dams.
“I think the dry weather helped us out a little bit,” Boozel said. “It was right up against the bridge the last time I looked. From what I understand, it’s faded a little bit with the drier weather we've been having.”
“They took machinery back in there and opened these dams up and it did relieve some of the water for these residents down there,” said Clay Township board of supervisors chairman Jeff Scott.
Boozel said the work to break down the dams has to be performed slowly and delicately to prevent releasing too much water at once.
“If we release too much at a time, it would create flooding down toward Route 8,” Boozel said. “So we have to be very mindful.”
“It’s not a beaver issue,” Scott said. “It’s a flooding issue.”
For months, the major impediment to progress centered around a track bed on a railroad near Beaver Dam Road which is no longer being used. Bridge crews needed to clear a path through the track bed to make it easier to reach the dams.
But “it's not a roadblock any longer,” Boozel said. “We've already mitigated that problem. They have machinery back there and are actually working on the dam itself.”
There is one remaining impediment to progress, however. Over the past six months, trappers were called in to remove the beavers from the area, with the approval of the Pennsylvania Game Commission. However, according to Boozel, the beavers have slowly returned to the area, and so have the dams.
“We are starting to break down the dams at a controlled rate, but the beavers are working equally as hard to build them back,” Boozel said.
Boozel said Clay Township supervisors will decide in the future whether to award the project to an external contractor or use their own road department to handle the situation.
“We're trying to protect our asset of the bridge and their road,” Boozel said. “We're going to keep monitoring it, and we’re trying to get the supervisors to engage in a long-term plan.”
