Zealand Trail - when did this happen?

Here's a photo taken in 2009 -


A photo taken last week from roughly the same spot -


Did Irene wash away the beaver dams? We asked at the hut, but this year's croo didn't seem to know.

Am quite sure the heavy rains the last weekend in May washed out that dam. Fortunately that failure didn't take out the one below it.

Post Irene last year, from the foot bridge. 6/30/12

Looks like the beavers will have to file for permit with FS to re-build their dam. Keep your eye out on the projects page for WMNF web site. I recall one rainy spring we were driving on FS roads near Cherry Mt. We encountered a FS crew who was checking on beaver dams near road to see if they were in danger of failing potential causing flash floods. Re-building the beaver dam gives the beavers something to do. Keeps them out of trouble.

This also occurred a number of years ago. The dams were breached by USFS in an attempt to lower the Giardia cyst problems in the public water supply for Twin Mountain the water is taken from the brook at the dam just below the trailhead parking lot(s). I used to fly fish in this pond back in the early eighties then one day they were all gone. I wonder if this has happened again?

I doubt it was for water supply reasons. Public water supplies with surface water sources are basically required to have filtration capable of removing giardia and have been for 15 to 20 years. Like the AMC had to do with the huts, many water supplies were converted to wells or installed slow sand filtration systems.

Sometimes beavers are their own worse enemies, unless they can continue to raise the water level, sediment fills in behind the dam and can lead to inadequate winter water depth under the ice. Once they get frozen in the lodge, they starve. Frequently, they end up having to build longer and longer dams and it doesn't take much for heavy rain event to cause a dam to fail. The former pond will grow up quickly with some beaver "candy" (tasty young trees) and give it a few years and a new colony will be reestablished.

peakbagger said:

I doubt it was for water supply reasons. Public water supplies with surface water sources are basically required to have filtration capable of removing giardia and have been for 15 to 20 years. .

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Unless they can show the source water meets certain criteria. I know many surface water systems that have a waiver from filtration. I know others that have installed Ozone or UV (depending on capacity) to deal with giardia, which is much cheaper than filtration in the long run.

Still, I highly doubt they'd modify the ecosystem to accommodate the drinking water source since the hoops to jump through would be huge and it would need to be published all over for public input.