ORRINGTON, Maine — Nearly a dozen beavers, part of a colony that built an approximately 80-foot dam on Swetts Pond Road that failed in March, have been trapped, Town Manager Paul White said Tuesday.
“Eleven have been relocated,” he said. “Don’t ask me where because I couldn’t tell you. All I know is they’re out of Orrington.”
A trapper was called in by property owner Larry Pelletier after the beaver dam broke March 23 and caused extensive damage to the road and a portion of the nearby railroad tracks.
“There was a meeting yesterday with the landowners, town officials, game wardens, and [Maine Department of] Inland Fisheries and Wildlife basically to discuss where to go next,” White said, adding that no decisions were made.
The good news is that early repair estimates of about $250,000 have been reduced significantly, the town manager added.
“I’m estimating between $120,000 and $130,000” to repair the roadway, White said. “The extent of the damage wasn’t quite as extensive as in 2001, but it’s still a major cost to the town.”
In May 2001, a hole in the beaver dam caused a rush of water that washed away a half-mile section of Swetts Pond Road, left a 25-foot-deep chasm at the entrance of Cemetery Road and damaged several driveways before it finally made its way downhill across Route 15 to the Penobscot River.
The cost for the town to repair the roads after the 2001 break was around $250,000.
Town selectmen were given an update about the beaver dam at their meeting on Monday, when town leaders also signed off on the warrant articles for the annual town meeting in June.
“The gross budget is $9,283,258, or a .55 percent — just over half of a percent — increase for the combined budget,” White said. “It’s anticipated the mill rate will not change due to increases in property values and only [a] minor increase in our budget.”
The current property tax rate is $13.45 per $1,000 in property value.
Preliminary 2012-13 figures include a town budget amount of $2,595,672, an increase of $20,633; $395,068 for Penobscot County taxes, a $2,634 increase; and $6,292,518 for the school budget, an increase of $27,262.
Residents will vote on the budget during the annual town meeting, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. June 4 at Center Drive School. Local elections will be held earlier in the day, from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and the results will be announced at the meeting.
Residents will select two selectmen and one school board member.
Incumbent Selectmen Christine Lavoie and Kevin Allcroft, the chairman, are running uncontested for their seats, and Michael Mason and Reginald Faulkingham are running for the school board seat of Kevin Hanscom, who decided not to seek re-election.
They need to get Willie, Phil, Jase, and Si Robertson up here to Orrington.
Why can’t we shoot beavers…?
You can….just be discrete about it….
you can buy a bullet for a quarter
Kill the beavers. It saves money.
Other beavers will just move in.
AND why should we kill the beavers? cause they were doing what nature wants them to do? what comes natural for them?
Kill a beaver,save a tree.
So the beavers have been trapped and relocated. I wonder how many kits were left in the houses to die because the parents are gone?
hopefully all of them. I take it you dont own any land that these little *$%^rds destroy.
No I don’t and I understand the implications of what happened. There was no urgency once the water receded. The beavers could have been trapped in accordance with their normal life cycle and relocated rather than leaving the kits to die of starvation.
That was what we were told, almost word for word..they were trapped and relocated…and noone would know where they went..to bad they are so destuctive
They are destructive in our eyes and I don’t deny that an abandoned beaver pond is pretty ugly and often they create problems like Orrington. The reality is beaver ponds do serve a purpose in the over all ecology of an area. They create habitat for a variety of plants and animals. Unfortunately, their existence is sometimes at odds with our existence. I know they need to be relocated at times but there are times of the year that are better than others.
PETA types, don’t worry about the beavers, there are zillions more throughout Maine. seriously
Before we start killing off a dozen beavers, I’m wondering if we should spend some time looking at the engineer that decided that this was a good place to build a road. This looks to me like a situation where the animals are smarter then the people who manage them. How many dollars have been wasted on this?
There wouldn’t be ANY roads if they were built to navigate away from water and wetlands. Have you ever looked at a map of Maine?
OK, so lets say we “look at the engineer” (probably long since dead) who decided that this was a good place to put a road (ignoring the fact that engineers don’t typically have the freedom to put roads anywhere they want to) and find that the road should be located somewhere else. What then? Nothing useful has been accomplished. The threat to the road still exists and the road can’t be rerouted without incurring much greater expense, and if the road were to be rerouted, the human beings who live along this road would have to be relocated. So, it’s a whole lot easier and less expensive to relocate, or as a last resort, kill the beavers.
Winona had one…..
………..and she shows it off to all her friends.
Beavers were made for trapping.
Probably same beaver over and over again.Maine is so Liberial they would save a beaver and cost tax payers millions
And they should
My son, daughter and I would have been more than excited at the opportunity to trap the beavers this past winter as part of our small trap line but, we don’t bother to seek out these “neighborhood” ponds. Today, so many people are opposed to trapping that we’ve found it best to seek permission from big landowners rather than neighbors that have nuisance critters. It’s a shame, really because we only live 7-miles away from this particular beaver pond.
I doubt the beavers were relocated because then they would become someone else’s problem. I strongly suspect they were tossed into a burn pile. If they were mine, the pelts have been sent to Idaho to be garment tanned and returned to be made into a beautiful bedspread or coat and mittens- all would have been enjoyed for a couple generations. The tender flesh would have become the most succulent stew meat you’d ever enjoy and the tail would have been tanned and made into a handsome and durable wallet.
But, like many of the landowners we have sought permission from, they have had a bad experience with other disrespectful trappers or hunters and deny our access which, is their respected right to do so. However, often this scenario repeats itself and the landowner [eventually] must pay a professional trapping service $40/hour to come remove the animals rather than manage their population size (for free using hobby trappers) and enjoy the beaver pond for many, many years. Now, without the beavers in place the pond will become a small stream again, devoid of ducks, geese, fish, frogs, mink, muskrats. It’s gone and will be gone for a good long time and we call THAT conservation?!?!?!
Trapping is sick, cruel and so midieval. Anyone who does such a horribly cruel thing to any animal should suffer the same fate! God put all of us on this earth for a reason whether it be human or another living being even if that reason annoys cruel people. They could put all 12 of those beavers in my back woods and it would be fine with me. “TRAPPING SHOULD HAVE BEEN OUTLAWED 100+ YEARS AGO!
Nice rant!!! You failed to read an earlier story on this issue. the story said The beavers “will not be killed,” Town Manager Paul White stressed after the meeting. “They will be trapped” and then relocated.
Likely story. As if they are going to relocate 11 beavers when everyone considers them a menace? I would like to see it for myself where they are relocated. Then I would believe it.
Beavers live in water not woods……you’d know that if you had a clue about wildlife or conservation.
Daaaaaa, I know they live in water. I have water in my woods. That comment is dumb!
Please tell me you do not own a leather belt, leather shoes, leather laces or anything made of leather and I’ll listen to your argument. All of those items have their roots in the fur trade. Also, tell me you eat no meat of any kind and I’ll give you credibility for standing behind what you say because every animal that is consumed suffers in some way. If you can state the above then you are a true patriot for the cause of eliminating what you deem as cruelty toward animals.
And, since you brought Him up in your comment I must encourage you to read Genesis 1:29 and 30. (link: http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Gen&c=1&v=29&t=KJV#29) You must read those lines in their full context for yourself. Don’t take my word for it but, the reason He put animals here is to meet the needs of man. Afterall, it is undeniable that God, Himself, made animal skins to cover Adam and Eve after the fall of man. No one in their right mind would wear a fig leaf- they are far to itchy.