Letter: Beaver Traps Only A Temporary Solution

SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass. — The Southborough Daily Voice accepts letters to the editor. Signed letters may be emailed to bmatthew@dailyvoice.com.

To the editor,

Regarding last week's story about beaver trapping in Southborough:

How many times will Southborough pay for the same inadequate solution before it realizes that it’s not cost effective? Killing the new beaver family that moved into the home of the old beaver family killed last year highlights the temporary success of trapping.

Hundreds of other cities have successfully installed a flow device that fixes the problem year after year. A culvert protective fence would prevent flooding, safely lower the pond level, protect the roadways and allow the beavers to remain so that their own territorial behaviors would keep others away — saving taxpayer money next year and the year after that. My own low-lying city installed a flow device that successfully controlled flooding five years ago, and now, because of the new wetlands and beaver ponds, we regularly see otter, heron, steelhead, wood duck and even mink in our tiny urban stream!

Any town smarter than a beaver can keep a beaver.

See how a "beaver deceiver" works here.

Heidi Perryman, Ph.D.

President & Founder

Worth A Dam

Martinez, Calif.

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