Conservation Corner: September 24, 2001

Managing Beaver Impoundments For Waterfowl
by James L. Cummins

Prior to 1850, beaver were found in every county in Mississippi, as well as the Southeast. This critter served as a source of income and food for early settlers. Eventually, heavy trapping and hunting led to the near extinction of beaver in Mississippi by the early 1900s. However, in the 1930s, beaver restoration was undertaken to restore, what was at the time, a valuable native furbearer and a potential source of income for economically-depressed farmers.

Conditions and circumstances of the next few decades changed the way in which we viewed the beaver. More often than not, we began to see the beaver as a liability rather than an asset.

Wildlife Services, an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides help through technical assistance and direct control for beaver problems. According to Kris Godwin, Wildlife Service's State Director for Mississippi, "In cooperation with Wildlife Mississippi, Wildlife Services assists landowners who want to enhance beaver impoundments for the benefit of waterfowl. Through field assistance, Wildlife Services is able to construct and install a water control device called the Clemson Beaver Pond Leveler."

The Clemson Beaver Pond Leveler was developed to maintain or improve some of the benefits derived from beaver ponds and associated plant communities while preventing extensive flood damage. "The leveler does not negate the need for direct control of beaver populations where problems are both extensive and severe; however, it should reduce this need," continued Godwin.

According to Rob Ballinger, Field Biologist with Wildlife Mississippi, "The pond leveler intake device is designed to minimize the probability that current flow can be detected by beavers, therefore minimizing dam construction."

At test sites where standpipes have been used, beavers have made no attempt to stop the flow of water. Stand-pipes regulate water levels in ponds and are essential where periodic drawdown and reflooding is desirable.

The Clemson Beaver Pond Leveler should help reduce flooding, manipulate pond levels, solve road culvert plugging problems and prevent filling of stand-pipes and culverts used as water control structures in fish ponds. However, the leveler is not a panacea for eliminating all beaver problems.

For information concerning the Clemson Pond Leveler, contact Kris Godwin, Mississippi's State Director with Wildlife Services at (662) 325-3014 or Bo Sloan, District Supervisor with Wildlife Services at (662) 686-3157 or Rob Ballinger, Field Biologist with the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation at (662) 686-3375.

James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi.