Well, the trappers did not get any of the beavers. They have pulled all the traps and told me to let them know if I see any new sign when the weather warms up.

So I have decided to tackle another project which will be clearing the "dam" I use the term loosely as all my ponds are dug ponds. But it is where my overflow pipe is which is going to be the real reason behind the project it was a steel pipe which has collapsed and the beavers have damned the area up causing my water level to rise to an unsafe level in my opinion. Although the dam is only 2-3' high it has enough water behind it to cause an issue for my neighbor. It has about 9" of free board from having a breech but the breech would happen where the beaver's built there damn.

Now I reach out to you pond boss citizens. I have read Mr. Otto's book "Just Add Water" which is very informative and I believe I can tackle this one on my own as the pipe sits near the top and the dam area is only about 10' at the top to 15' at the base across. I just have no idea how I can de-water my ponds as 5 are linked together with small canal type systems you can take a jon boat or canoe through. I have no way of setting up a siphon system due to the topography and the only pump I have is a 2" semi trash pump at optimal conditions puts out around 9500 GPH. With ~1.75-2 Surface acres of water linked together I'm thinking it will take around 70 hours to de-water.

My question is should I just dig the pipe out and let the water flow freely around it until it finds it's "Happy" level and then de-water further if needed or should I do it with just the gasoline pump? I have some spare cinder blocks on the property I might be able to slow and control the water with for erosion issues. I just don't want to hack away at the dam and have an onslaught of water mess up my neighbors property and land me in hot water with him and who knows what government entity.

Read a little about this was wondering what best recommended technique is.