I've not had to deal with many of the problems I've read on this site. However, I don't think many of you have ever had to face the realities of flesh-eating subterranean water-polluting beavers.
Ok, I don't have any direct proof of the "flesh-eating" part, but the rest is confirmed. I am preparing to begin excavation of my two ponds--one designed for RT, the second for YP/SMB/RES. The ponds are fed by a spring that comes from a cave on my property. For the past five years, this spring has consistently run crystal clear and steady. About eight weeks ago, we did some initial work, creating a small pool outside the cave and diverting the spring flow around the construction area to facilitate some drying and allowing us to work without the flow of water through the construction site. The pool was near total clarity.
Much to my surprise, the diversion ditch was promptly plugged by a beaver dam. This seemed particularly odd since beavers are not that common around here and there isn't a significant lake or river within many miles of this property. In any event, it happened. We tore the dam down (twice), and it was promptly rebuilt within 24 hours each time. Then, as I considered trapping and other options, the beavers elected to leave it alone--GREAT!
Now the new problem. It appears that the beavers have now moved underground into the cave. I found beaver scat in the cave and gnawed branches in the cave. This is actually fine with me. What is not fine is that they appear to have messed up the water quality! My water now runs a deep clay-laden mud color.
My hypothesis--somewhere back in the cave (beavers can go farther in it than I can), the beavers have dammed up the underground "stream". This is causing the collapse of clay into the water, which is then being carried out of the stream. I suspect that this will eventually self-resolve (there is only so much clay back in the flooded parts to be carried out), but it is sure churning out a lot of muddy water at the moment.
AARGH!
