Removing a beaver from a pond: Step 1

A beaver can wreak havoc on a forest. Providing one with a nice pond for a home increases the chances it will settle in for the long term. Unless you like the looks of the picture at left, making it leave or removal are the only options. Previous visiting beavers left because of the fluctuating pond water level. Beavers do not like changing water levels. The current resident beaver has pushed a little mud around and, combined with a little silting in of the spillway channel, has managed to establish a stable water level on the pond for now. It has set up a nice lodge on our dirt pile at the western shore. We have been lucky that the beaver seem to prefer the green ash and willow growing along the pond shore and have only chewed a few larger green ash junk trees in the forested areas. I could try to induce it to move, but that would require quite a bit of dirt work redigging the spillway channel. Digging the channel does not create the fluctuating water level, droughty summers combined with it do. The only guaranteed way is removal. Many do not recommend shooting as they get real hard to catch or shoot with a missed shot. Trapping is the solution I am going with. A couple of conibear 330's and a castor oil bait are on their way. I have had lots of help from the folks over at http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php . In fact, one of the members may be able to help me out on site in setting the traps. These are large traps taht are dificult to set and can really hurt you; so I would not recommend setting one without help and first hand knowledge. You may also want to check up on any local laws dealing with fur bearing animals and trapping. I hope to provide the follow up post on the removed nuisance beaver in a few weeks.

The orchard site

I have decided an orchard is the best option for an area north of the pond that has a few trees, lots of grass, and almost no regeneration. Best managment practices say you should not cut trees near streams and other bodies of water. I would not want to plant a tree that I knew would be cut down in the future. Especially since the recommended BMP buffer zone is only going to expand in the future as more people veiw the land as something to protect and not another harvest. The orchard site is in a V between the inlet stream and the outlet stream for the pond. In the photo, you can see the site and the scattered trees that must come out. A bit of land may be useable on the eastern side of the outlet stream as well. A delimna has risen over what to plant. These are not just a yearly crop so you don't want to get it wrong. Mayhaws were my first thought, but the problem is marketing the berries. Jelly and other retail products would be easier, but take a $10k certified kitchen to produce legally. I have begun studying other fruits to grow organically, but run into time, quality, and sitability issues. Pecans are starting to be the front runners now. They have the most proven organic research. A lot of support is available in Texas, including marketing. It is also wide spread and accumulators are present in many locations that buy from small producers. The trick now is figuring out if a small scale operation can make enough money to justify the required equipment. Oh well, more reading to do while I prepare the site by cutting a few trees and starting mowing it down real low in preparation for planting next winter.

Clearing a piece of overgrown pond shore

I would have loved to have spent a day on the tractor, but the job at hand took priority. A skid steer with a mulching head would have been the perfect tool if I had the cash. Free manual labor had to do this time. The original pond must have been rectangular with a dam around all 4 sides. On the north side, it is mostly removed with a big peninsula on the west as pictured below and a smaller one on the east. The smaller one would make a nice secluded campsite. We need room for a tent pad, fire ring, and sitting area. It is relatively flat and overgrown with small trees and lots of thorny vines. You can see how dense it is on the edges of the photo. The brush saw would not stay running for long, but once I started taking the chainsaw to things I realized most was to large for my brush saw anyways. I had about 3 1/2 hours to do some clearing after a quick walk around the place to check everything. One more day should do it on the clearing and then I can take a sharp mattock to any offending stubs and mow the vines. We had a delimna deciding what to do with the brush: burn or chip. Burning is easy and can help clear those vines when done right on top of the clearing. Chipping gives us mulch we can use on paths and the tent camping site. Once all of the cutting is finished, we are going to rent a chipper and make mulch. We might as well make sure there is a full days chipping if we have to rent one for a day. I plan on cutting the larger trunks into firewood for use at home and here. I have a few other topics of interest that warrant a seperate post that I will post in the next few days. They will be about beaver that is still there and starting an orchard in some clear areas at the north end of the property.

The reason for the tractor

Here is part of my reasoning behind finally purchasing some form of tractor. The picture shows a peninsula that semi-seperates the main rectangular pond from the northern shallow pond. It is at a strange angle, overgrown, and generally unusable. I believe it is from excavating the pond and allowed the excavator to reach further portions of the pond during renovations in the past. it is shaped sort of like an inverted V with the north side steep and the south side sloping gently towards the water. I want to shape it with a flattened top, leaving the steep north side, and creating a possible building site or at least a packed gravel pad for my wife to enjoy the pond. A small cabin would have a great view from here of both parts of the pond. I cleared the brush over a year ago with a brush cutter, but the vines and a few trees are coming back from the roots. I am heading out to mow the year old shrubbery before they grow enough next year to require a rotary cutter. A middle buster/sub soiler combo at TSC will be picked up soon for busting up that grass and other gardening uses, maybe while I am out mowing. I will then go over it with a box blade and level it off. The next post should be of my mowing results and maybe a little logging/sawmill action if time allows.

Tractor for work and pleasure

I bit the bullet and purchased a real, albeit small, Kubota B6100E tractor for the property. I had to find one small enough to keep in the backyard for security, and transport it back and forth. It came with a finish mower and a 25 gallon sprayer. The mower means I can actually get the front entry and pond mown and usable. The sprayer has a wand and two nozzles in the pointing down. I can treat the turf areas for weeds and spray the pond edge to kill the hook stealing vegetation. After a little work, we should be able to play a little easier next year. A box blade will need to be purchased for trail maintenance, and renting a few other implements when needed will make structures and access easier. I can't wait to start leveling out the lumpy area in front of the pond and maybe starting on a gravel road to get the truck further in. It slips on slick clay where I must turn and go uphill just feet from the pond edge and keeps the truck confined to the entryway. We don't need that kind of structure in there. I am going to make a hitch connector for the Logrite Junior arch to pull the larger logs. The Junior may be able to handle a 16'x16" log, but it ways a bit much to pull very far by hand. I plan on getting out there within a week and getting some mowing done to start with a fresh cut next year. A few of the plants growing are shrubby perennials and vines that need to be knocked down now before I must cut them and growing grass. It will also clear out the matted down dead grass. I only have 14hp to work with and no rotary cutter. A rotary cutter may be on my rental list once I know I can keep up with the current grassy areas. We also plan to use the tractor for some foodplots on ours and my fathers future property.

Fall Woodlot Report Part 3: Evaluating the pond

Having the pond on the middle of a forested area has been an interesting learning experience. Trees bring all sorts of extra issues to a pond. They can die when flooded, they drop leaves that make muck in the pond bottom, they reseed all over the pond shore, and they are attractive to beavers. A beaver has set up a homestead on the pond. All that great timber to chew on and a nice convenient pond to live in has inticed one to stay. I had passers through before, but they left when they could not keep the pond level stable. It has been stable for over a year now and this beaver has not left, I think. It has built a den (see photo), tried to bulldoze mud into the overflow pipe, and who knows what other damage I am going to find. Luckily the den is not in the dam; so no tunnels have been found yet that might undeermine it. A conibear trap is in order I believe to get rid of the nuisance.

Trees can be a problem around a pond. I have a large dead area that floods to much and will need more flood tolerant trees like bald cypress and tupelos. These areas also make a nice wetland zone between the seasonal creek and the pond. Sediment is trapped in this area and extends the life of the pond. Leaves from the trees can build up in the pond as well creating a 'pond muck'. It is an anearobic sediment of rotting vegetable matter. I have researched aerators and microbes to act against it. The microbes are more in line with my budget and I may try some next year to get the eradication process started. The microbes you add are the same as the ones added to septic systems. They work anearobically to break down the plant matter. Aeration is quicker, more expensive, and needs elctricity usually. Finally, the trees around the pond make plenty of seeds to sprout around the pond. Usually trees on a dam are bad, but I have been told mine is fine by an expert dam consultant. My issue now is they block access and views. I hope to clear some out completely and clear brush/prune under others to make fishing and viewing spots. Willows and buttonbush are another concern of mine. They can take over the shoreline quickly. I will be using an appropriate herbicide on any I find. These grow very close and in the water; so a proper herbicide for around water is needed to prevent damage to the pond itself. My next post will be on the TSI work I am doing salvaging dead trees and cutting culls to make construction wood with the sawmill for projects on the property.

Fall Woodlot Report Part 2: Utilizing dead trees

In part 2, I will be discussing how I am utilizing dead wood from the flooded area. Trees are continuing to die in the flood prone area as their roots succumb to the lack of air and they suffocate. Trees have different abilities to survive flooding. The bald cypress I planted are extremely flood tolerant, and their knees are what allow them to breath when the majority of the root system is underwater. The willow oaks and nutmeg hickories that have died can only withstand 6 months or so of standing water. A few are on slightly higher gound allowing them to last a few years longer than others, but I believe they will all die eventually in this area. I have started trying to get these down before they die or after they are dead but still sound enough to take down. Wildlife trees are also important and the ones I cannot get to or were already damaged will remain for this purpose. The eastern red cedar's flood capacity is not known to me and I am leaving any live ones and taking any dead ones. Luckily, they do not rot and can wait around as dead standing trees until I get to them. Bugs love the hickory so much that the one I took down still had leaves on it and had bugs all the way to center. Smaker and firewood is all these will be good for. I have not taken down any willow oak that died this year. The cold weather should hold off the bugs until spring. I hope to salvage some timber for projects on the property, but they may become firewood if the bugs are to bad. The nice thing about the mill is I can cut down to the heartwood and make lumber while cutting up the sapwood into firewood if the bugs have only made it a little ways into the wood. The cedar I took down was beautiful, and one had a really interesting ring of sapwood inside the heartwood. It is going to become a picnic table for the property since it would be a waste to turn it into posts. Three hours of labor netted me 6 nice cedar saw logs, a short cedar elm, and a hickory that will become firewood. I have to more large cedars to get out and several small ones. There are also several willow oaks to take down that recently died and my not be full of bugs. Two may be to large for the log arch even. All told, I believe I can get quite a stack of lumber out of the dead trees with at least 7 more sawlogs of cedar and hopefully 9 of willow oak if the arch can get them all. I believe those willow oaks are going to be my pavilion posts, perlins, and such since there will be no ground contact. Well, that is enough on salvaging dead trees. Part 3 will be on the pond.