A petition campaign to save a local beaver at Kingstowne Lake won property management over: Wally will live.
According to residents, Wally moved to the man-made stormwater management pond known as Kingstowne Lake sometime in September last year. Whether it’s just one beaver or a couple is unclear — a licensed wildlife expert said over 60 trees had been damaged by the beaver, indicating there could be more than one.
In January, the Kingstowne Community Association started moving forward on a plan to trap and kill the beaver. Virginia prohibits beavers from being relocated, but the Department of Wildlife Resources says owners are allowed to “humanely dispatch” any animals that have damaged property without needing a permit.
However, the Friends of Kingstowne Lake — an association of residents and other community members who support the lake — had advocated for Wally’s life to be spared, offering to pay for fencing to protect trees.
In response, the Kingstowne Community Association, which manages the lake, said in a release today (Thursday) that it has decided to switch to non-lethal mitigation strategies “after more deliberation and recognizing the strong feelings about the matter from many residents.”
According to the release:
After consulting with a licensed wildlife expert, the Association initially implemented a trapping solution to address the issue; however, after more deliberation and recognizing the strong feelings about the matter from many residents, we have decided to take a different approach. The traps have been removed, and we are shifting to non-lethal mitigation strategies to explore if these strategies can resolve the issues of concern regarding the loss of trees and the functionality of our stormwater facility.
The wildlife expert who assessed the damage from Wally noted that non-lethal mitigation efforts like metal screening around trees would be a “laborious process”, but the Kingstowne Community Association says it will install those coverings in the hopes that Wally chooses to relocate naturally.
Moving forward, we will install protective coverings around trees to prevent more damage, and we will remove the dams built by the beavers to restore proper water flow.
We hope these measures will encourage the beavers to relocate naturally. The Association will continue to monitor the situation and explore balanced solutions as needed.
Fairfax County recently launched a new beaver management information site to help homeowners’ associations manage beaver problems. Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn had requested last June that the county’s wildlife management staff update and publicize its beaver-related resources to “help residents learn more about this industrious animal and how to coexist with them.”
The county says that while beavers can cause damage to trees and cause flooding on human properties, they also play a critical role in the county’s ecosystem. In addition to helping manage downstream flooding, their dams create wetlands and ponds that reduce erosion, improve water quality and support other wildlife.
According to the website:
Beavers are found in watersheds throughout Fairfax County and there has been a growing interest from landowners regarding how to manage and live with beavers. With both beaver and human populations increasing, it’s crucial to find ways to coexist.
We encourage tolerance of beavers whenever possible when beaver activities are not impacting human uses or infrastructure. When problems do occur, most beaver conflicts related to property damage can be solved by implementing habitat modification measures that consider a beaver’s behavior.
These measures provide effective and humane strategies to mitigate human-beaver conflicts in Fairfax County while fostering an environment of human-wildlife coexistence.
