Beaver dam monitoring landowners’ responsibility

Damages caused by bursting beaver dams could fall to you. That’s according to the province, but it’s up for some debate between local works managers, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, and the Ministry of Transportation.

On May 2, Hastings Highlands operations manager Adrian Tomasini says one beaver dam blowout led to another until five consecutive dams had burst. Lake St. Peter Road was washed out. Tomasini says if the municipality had contracted out the roads work, repairs could have cost upwards of $80,000.

Two more beaver dam related washouts occurred in late June, one on Hwy 118 west of Cardiff, the other on Hwy 62 when Moore Lane was swept away. Both instances had works crews working well into the night.

Last week, dams burst on Port Hope Lake. The rushing water cut off Hwy 28 South for more than a day, causing commuters to detour McGillivray Road to Inlet Bay to Hwy 118.

Read more here: www.bancroftthisweek.com/?p=8137