Otter Tail County installs pond leveler to combat ongoing battle against beaver dams

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – Otter Tail County’s Ditch and Drainage Systems team had a recurring problem: beavers continued to build dams that blocked the drainage ditches. 

The Otter Tail County’s Drainage Inspector Colby Palmersheim said he was determined to find an innovative solution, so he built one: a Clemson Beaver Pond Leveler.

According to the South Carolina Department of Aquaculture, Fisheries, and Wildlife, the Clemson Beaver Pond Leveler was developed to mitigate flooding while allowing the beavers to exist in their natural habitat.

Getting rid of the dams had been costing hundreds of dollars to remove per dam, Palmersheim said, but the pond leveler limits the flowable water that is detected by beavers, which results in fewer dams being constructed.

Palmersheim said: “With this device, the beavers should be able to continue to live in their habitat, and the idea is that they can’t figure out how the water is draining through the dam and will hopefully make the best of it, and we won’t need to focus so much time and money on this area.”

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has tested the Clemson-designed leveler and “determined it can effectively reduce flooding in certain situations, such as a beaver dam built in a culvert or a dam constructed at the outlet of a small pond. Once installed, the leveler is virtually maintenance-free.” 

He added the leveler cost about $1,500 to make and about 10 hours to install, but, if the device prevents two beaver dams that would have otherwise been created, it will have already paid for itself.