Residents on Big School Lot La... ROSE TOWNSHIP, Michigan – With failing septic systems, sunken docks, and lake water literally washing out their backyards, 10 Big School Lot Lake residents met with representatives from the Oakland County Parks and Recreation Commission on Monday, asking them to take immediate action on eliminating the problem – a system of formidable beaver dams and huts within the Rose Oaks Park.
Two beaver dams and four huts downstream from Big School Lot Lake are continuing to cause lake water levels to rise. Residents maintain that they have been battling high waters since 2003, but that recent levels are worse than ever, estimating the water to be up 18 to 24 inches overall.
Brittany Bird, a natural resources planner for Oakland County Parks first shared a few things about her department’s natural resources management philosophy.
“Here at Rose Oaks, we have an incredible piece of property in the sense that we have roughly seven distinct natural communities within our boundaries,” she said. While Rose Oaks boasts several natural communities, Bird said two of the most significant include Wet-mesic Prairie and Southern Wet Meadow.
“Wet-mesic Prairies in particular are very rare in the state and are actually rare on a global basis,” she said. “In Michigan, it’s believed that we only have about 20 of those types of habitats left, and we’re very lucky to have one right in our own backyard at Rose Oaks.”
Natural resource planner, Brit...
Bird said Rose Oak’s unique wetland habitat makes management choices a little more “narrow.”
“In 2009, the MDNR, which was then the DEQ, made some changes to some of their wetland regulations and as part of those changes, they assigned broad definitions of critically imperiled wetlands in the state,” Bird said. “The state will be assuming greater jurisdiction of management over those rare and imperiled wetland types.”
From a permitting standpoint, any type of proposed activity in areas that have the natural communities like Rose Oaks has would be more stringent, Bird said.
“The state would be taking a much closer look at any of the proposed activities which is one reason among others that we are not considering moving the dams at this point,” she said.
Bird explained that the beaver’s very presence is most likely the reason for the flourishing Wet-mesic Prairie and Southern Wet Meadow.
“Historically, what ecologists and biologists have been able to determine from looking pre-settlement vegetation maps and knowing the extent of beaver populations, the Wet- mesic Prairie and Southern Wet Meadow communities essentially were formed and maintained by beaver activity, so the animal goes hand in hand with the natural system that’s on the ground.”
Bird recognized the “human dimension” side of the issue. “We have to take that into consideration when we’re determining how we’re going to manage these natural systems, and in many cases, that’s just as important,” she said.
With four beaver lodges, and two hefty dams, Bird estimated there to be between eight and 10 beavers per lodge, making the entire population at least 40 beavers.
We just secured a new trapping contractor who we think will be very good to work with,” Bird said. Additionally, she said her department had secured 10 to 12 nuisance beaver permits to be used as soon as the permits are in hand.
“Trapping is one avenue that we’re taking and so the intent here is to help limit the overall beaver population that we have using this 150-acre wetland complex,” she said. “By limiting the overall population, we should have fewer individuals having babies and hopefully, over time, we’ll see less damming activity. It will also buy us time to install additional water flow devices.”
Bird said the method of trapping would be “kill trapping.”
“It’s illegal to relocate beaver in Michigan – it’s state regulation, we’ll use kill trapping,” she said.
“In other words, you’re not going to do anything right now except trying to trap the beavers?” resident Angie Van Slyke asked. “You’re not going to try to take the huts down and the dams down…we don’t need to look for any relief soon. Is that what you’re telling us?”
Bird reiterated that her department was not looking to remove the dams, partly because of the new regulations that are placed on specific types of wetlands, but that the department would attempt other solutions like installing water flow devices and permanent staff water gauges.
Last year, park officials attempted to increase water flow by inserting a total of five sets of 6-inch by 20-foot pipes through the dam. “Those pipes – the theory behind it is if you insert them into the dam itself, it allows water to pass through without the beaver having an auditory cue of running water because all of that happens sub-surface,” she said. “So we did that and we’ve been fairly happy with the function of those.”
Residents estimate the water l...
This summer, Bird said the department would be looking into inserting more pipes. “We’d like to move onto Phase 2 and look at how we might better design these things,” Bird said. “What seems clear from our experience last spring is that just from the sheer volume and size of the system, we probably need more sets of these pipes, and possibly deeper.”
Additionally, Bird said her department would be looking to install several permanent staff water gauges, allowing park staffers to monitor levels and collect data that until now, has never been documented.
“While we may see water drop two feet on our staff gauges, we’ll be able to see what’s happening in your backyard and figure out how some of the methods we’ve used to reduce water levels relate,” she said.
Bird said that the department would be working with township Supervisor Alison Kalcec to hopefully start recreational trapping during the designated trapping season of November through March. “Our thinking is that would give us a lot of relief, especially if we can keep that pressure there year round,” she said. “Not only does that remove individuals, but it also provides non-lethal pressure so that you’re going to limit where in the park those young are disbursing to.”
Resident Jack Slingerland said the beavers had never posed a problem prior to 2003. “At the time I contacted Dan Stencil, who at that time was in charge of Rose Oaks,” Slingerland said. “He sent out Jon Kipke to my house so we could try and figure out why the water level was so high.”
Slingerland said he and Kipke used his all-terrain vehicle to negotiate the swamp, traveling from Big School Lot Lake down to Rattalee Lake Road. “During that trip, Jon told me that the reason why we have a beaver problem is that they were live trapped in another Oakland County park and brought to this ecosystem.”
Bird and the two other park officials, Chief of Park Operations and Maintenance Jim Dunleavy and Rose Oaks Supervisor Boyd Brokenshaw all said they knew nothing of Slingerland’s claim. “We would not be allowing that now, that’s for sure,” Bird said.
“We are in a desperate situation now,” resident Slingerland said on Monday. “We have septic fields failing – this isn’t something you can take your time on,” he added. “My feeling is we need to get something done quickly or possibly we’ll have to take further action because this has been going on for an awful long time.”
Even if the Oakland County Parks department was willing to remove the dams, Slingerland said it would only be a temporary solution. “We could knock ‘em down and come back the next day, and they’d be completely rebuilt.”
Rose Township residents Jack S...
“It’s not something that 20 sticks of dynamite wouldn’t take care of immediately,” resident Mike Culpert said. “I’ve been real quiet here because I’m really, really upset,” he added. “As of today, it has cost me $14,000 for a new septic system.” Culpert said his old system had functioned perfectly for 20 years until a rising water table caused it to fail.
“We have never had this problem and removing 12 beavers from this ecosystem isn’t going to do one stupid thing,” he said. “The property is unusable – it’s unsalable – nobody is going to come out there and look at my home and buy it the way it’s sitting right now.”
“You affected our property values,” Slingerland said to park officials.
“The natural system and the activity of wildlife have affected it,” Bird replied.
“When you transferred the beaver onto the property from the other parks is when it started,” he said.
“To our knowledge, we have never transferred beaver onto the property, but we’ll definitely have a conversation with Dan Stencil and Jon Kipke.
On Tuesday, Stencil, who serves as executive officer for Oakland County Parks Commission denied the accusations. “We have never transported beaver into that park,” he said. Stencil added that he had no knowledge or reason to believe that Kipke, now retired from the department, ever indicated that to be the case, either.
“An increase in the beaver population is being felt all through the entire Shiawassee River Basin right now,” Stencil said. “It’s not just limited to the Rose Oaks Park.”
Rose Township Supervisor Alison Kalcec recommended taking the matter one step higher, enlisting the help of Oakland County Commissioner Bill Bullard. Kalcec is expected to set up a future meeting with Bullard in which residents will be able to once again address their concerns about the ongoing water level problems resulting from the population of beavers at Rose Oaks Park.
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