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Dammed pond dries out after state removes beaver dam

Locals concerned for wildlife, state says removal necessary to avoid flooding

Barbara Kent stands with her two dogs “Maisie” and “Marigold” at the edge of the beaver dam the state removed as part of its work on the rail trail work in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

SARANAC LAKE — When the state removed train tracks for its rail trail project earlier this month it also removed a beaver dam that was creating a pond near where McKenzie Brook flows into Lake Flower.

Locals in the neighborhood who frequently walk along the tracks were shocked and upset. They say draining the pond of water is harming the wildlife living there. The state departments of Transportation and Environmental Conservation say the dam removal was permitted to prevent it from flooding and eroding the corridor, and that impacts to wildlife will be minimal.

“Two beaver dams were partially blocking water flow at a culvert and action was taken to mitigate potential for flooding,” DEC spokesperson JoMo Miller wrote in an email. “This is a common and necessary action for mitigating what can be a significant, costly and sometimes dangerous failure of infrastructure.”

Beaver dams are protected from disturbance by humans in New York, but permits from the DEC can allow for “nuisance beavers” to be killed or have their homes torn down. The DEC approved one such permit for the DOT on its rail removal work. The DOT contracted that job to the company National Salvage.

Barbara Kent looks out over a portion of “Toxic Pond” which is now a large mud pit. The removal of a beaver dam lowered the water in this pond significantly this month. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Dam discovery

Barbara Kent has lived within a mile of the pond her entire life. Every day, several times a day, she walks her two dogs “Maisie” and “Marigold” on the train-track trails passing the pond, where she takes in the sylvan sights.

Turtles sun themselves on logs, herons swoop low to stand in the water, loons and mergansers feed on the water and frogs belch noisily. Kent said the beavers dammed up the water generations ago and their work has lasted decades.

“It was always there, always,” Kent said. “Everybody just loved it up there.”

Mud and beaver huts are exposed in a Saranac Lake pond which beavers had dammed up years ago. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

The water body on McKenzie Brook is known colloquially as “Toxic Pond” because the old landfill, now greened over, can be seen through the trees.

Kent was “mortified” when on May 7 she walked down and saw excavator tracks leading off the rails to the dam. The middle of the dam was torn out. Water that used to trickle through the dam underneath now poured over the top. The water level in the pond was dropping and mud could be seen all along the perimeter.

On May 18 the water had dropped low enough to expose tires, logs and beaver huts out in the pond.

The water flowed over the busted dam and through a culvert, to a pond between the Sara Placid Inn and Suites and the Best Western hotel, under another culvert on state Route 86 and into Lake Flower.

“I fell apart over it,” Kent said with a sad chuckle. “I’m 73 years old. It doesn’t take much to rattle me.”

Barbara Kent stands with her two dogs “Maisie” and “Marigold” at the edge of the beaver dam the state removed as part of its work on the rail trail work in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

When she posted about her discovery on Facebook, friends and neighbors joined in, commiserating in what they saw as an unnecessary destruction of one of their favorite natural resources.

Kent just wants to know: “Why?”

“The partial removal of this dam was performed within our right of way to prevent flooding,” DOT Spokesperson Joseph Morrissey wrote in an email. “The (DOT) has a standing permit with the (DEC) for beaver dam removal within this corridor.”

“I don’t understand,” Kent said. “It’s never flooded. The motel’s never flooded. It’s never come across Lake Flower (Avenue). That pond never flooded any roads or anything.”

Miller said roads and railroad beds are particularly prone to flooding-related failures because the ground they run on is built up above the surrounding wetland. He said when water rises against the base it becomes saturated and compromised and can lead to “a catastrophic wash-out.”

Maisie and Marigold (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Kent said she has no problem with the rail trail project, a controversial topic in town. She just hopes it will be accessible to people of all abilities. But she also said work has been done on the train tracks before without needing to rip the dam out and she doesn’t think it was necessary now.

“Am I being unreasonable?” Kent asked. “This was breeding grounds for so much wildlife.”

The DEC claims the environmental impact will be small.

“While there may be local and short-lived impacts to wildlife, these impacts are not expected to be significant,” Miller wrote. “Some local wildlife species using this wetland may move to other wetland areas and riparian corridors within the immediate area, whereas other species may continue to use the area.”

Adirondack Park Agency Spokesperson Keith McKeever said his agency would defer to the DEC’s judgement in commenting on this issue, because it has jurisdiction.

Kent said she’s worried the now-dry edges of the pond pose a wildfire risk.

Dam age

The DEC’s permit to the DOT allowed “removal of beaver dams no more than 2 years old.”

Kent said this dam has existed for her whole life.

“Beavers continually build up their dams and will also repair them as they become breached or damaged naturally through high-water storm events/winter ice,” Miller wrote. “Depending on the amount of this new dam construction and the history of the dam, the portion that is less than 2 years old can vary.”

Kent says the middle section of the dam removed is old by her estimate.

What now?

Kent wondered if the beavers would rebuild their dam and if the state would return to remove it again.

Some don’t want to leave it to beavers. Kent said she’s seen other frequenters of the trail throwing branches back into the water to dam it up again. She’s not sure if this is illegal or will just be ripped out again.

Kent said this feels like it’s a “losing battle.”

She was even hesitant to tell the Enterprise at first.

“But I kind of felt I owed it to the turtles,” she said.

Kent loves the area and has many happy memories there. Her dogs know the trail by heart. Kent was ecstatic on Tuesday when she saw a heron — whom she’s named “Harry” — still flying around. But she’s concerned for the turtles, ducks, eagles and geese. She was worried that she didn’t see any loons.

She hopes they’ll all find another place to live and expects some of the turtles have taken up residence downstream in Lake Flower.

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