Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Advice on Repairing Beaver Damage to Lake Dam

I'm working to clear a beaver infestation in a old, spring fed lake located near Oakwood, Tx and was looking for advice on how to treat several areas where they've burrowed into my dam.

We've taken 16 beavers out over the past 3 weeks, so the problem was much more severe than expected and I'm concerned my dam now looks more like swiss cheese and needs to be shored up asap.

They have tunneled below the bulkhead in 4-6 places and I don't know how extensive their network is but I did have one dig though the top of the structure which highlighted the magnitude of the problem.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Get an excavator, dig out the run, pack it with clay. That's about all I can think of. Even a mini excavator will be better than doing it by hand.

You have two options: 1. you either build a new dam, 2, you leave a couple of beavers to repair and upkeep the dam, which is counterintuitive if you want to get rid of them all. Keep in mind they always come back....

Agree with esshup on the mini-excavator.

They are quite easy to operate for a newbie.

Observations:

1.) Most mini-excavators have two "control modes". For amateurs, it is usually more intuitive to have the rental company set it up to operate in "backhoe" mode.

2.) They are safe to operate for newbies if you do NOT drive or operate on slopes. (Also only safe where there is no chance of hitting underground or overhead utilities.)

3.) I suspect you will need to operate from a flat position on top of the dam. You will need to measure how far to reach to dig out most or all of the beaver tunnels. In my experience more HP and reach is almost always better on renting a mini-excavator. The rental rate only goes up slightly as you get more HP. The work accomplished per hour versus the rental cost per hour has always been better for me with the larger machine.

My limitation is generally the hauling weight. I only have a beefed-up 1/2-ton pick up. It is flat from the rental business to our farm, so I usually get the excavator that is right at my towing weight limit.

Get the online specs for the largest machine you can haul. See if the "reach" in the specs will fit your project needs. If not, then you may need a buddy with a 1-ton truck so you can get a bigger machine (for example).

4.) Packed clay on a dam face will probably be very hard digging. In that case you want a smaller bucket to maximize your break-out force at the cutting edge. For example, if the beaver tunnels are 10" wide, I would ask the rental company to fit their 12" bucket. You will also need a bucket with teeth. Tell the rental guys your project when you reserve the machine, and they should provide you the optimal set-up for when you pick it up.

I hope that gives you some more ideas for safely and efficiently fixing your problem.

I'm on the opposite side of this debate, I don't know how big your pond or how long the dam is but a mini excavator will work for digging it out but you have to have a place to store the dirt because you will have to dig down and get a clean surface before you start replacing the dirt and compacting it effectively, another area where the mini is not going to be able to get proper compaction unless you spend a huge amount of time whacking with the bucket for compaction, which is still not ideal.

I have fixed a number of holy dams over the years, most of them with little extra room on the top of the dam. I go in with tracked loader and basically cut the top of the dam down to past any burrow or damage that has been done, having to get a bucket full of dirt and backing out to the end of the dam and stockpiling it, usually a pile on both ends of the dam, till you have removed all of the damage.

Then you are ready to bring it back in and spread it thin in lifts and compact it as needed.

I have never used anything but the machine to compact it as the top of the dam does not have nearly as much of a leaking problem as the base of a dam. by the time you run back and forth and get a bucket of dirt on each end to rebuild it you get a pretty good amount of compaction, if need be you can traverse across the top of the dam with a full bucket of dirt to add to the ground pressure of the tracks.

I have never had one to leak doing it this way.

Good Luck!

I was advising for best practices for a newbie on a mini-excavator. I probably should have added that the beaver damage to my pond embankments has only been single holes - so I have never had to personally perform an "equipment" repair.

I will also say that gehajake's "seat time" on the equipment is probably several orders of magnitude more than mine.

If your situation matches his scenario, then personally, I would follow his advice.

Here is what some of what we did with a 40 ton and an 8 ton iirc. Built it wrong the first time and did it right the second...use what you have available i guess.

I had the same thing on my spring fed creek. I liked it but I guess the coyotes didn’t. Score coyotes 2- beavers 0.

I greatly appreciate all the feedback. I'm not too proficient with heavy equipment so would be more inclined to bring in someone a lot more seasoned than me.

Thanks again for all the help.

Good thinking. To elaborate a bit I'd say to start spreading the dirt closest to the pile so you get maximum "driving over" the dirt that you are spreading. If you start spreading on the opposite end of the dam, you will have less times driving over it, correct?

I have no real idea, but just an idle thought. What about pumping concrete into the tunnels? Would it be cheaper than all the dirt work? Would it even work? Again, idle thought of an idle mind...

The concrete wouldn't tie in to the surrounding soil and it wouldn't create a seal. The water could seep around the concrete and erode the surrounding soil. It'd be better to use clay and pack it in there. If the tunnel isn't too deep a jumping type "whacker packer" could also be used.

I don't know if they make them for a mini excavator but I've seen a sheepsfoot type roller attached where a bucket would be on an excavator to pack a trench...........