Haliburton County will be adopting written operational guidelines for dealing with beaver dams.
The county sometimes experiences difficulties with property owners who will not deal with beaver dams on their properties or permit county staff on their properties to address problems.
Property owners are liable for any damage that may occur as a result of beaver dam they know about but don’t address.
A burst beaver dam is more than capable of washing out a road and those washouts can be expensive to repair.
The county has drafted a letter that will be sent to residents with problem dams on their properties.
“Washouts to county roads are costly to repair and you may be liable to the county for the cost of repair if the washout occurs because of a break in your beaver dam,” the letter reads. “Under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act 1997 you are permitted to take remedial measures to protect your property from potential damage created by a beaver dam and to appoint an agent to assist you in the remedial measures. Although it is your responsibility to deal with the hazards of your beaver dam, the County of Haliburton is prepared to assist you and share some of the reasonable costs involved in removing the beaver dam from your property.”
At a Sept. 19 roads committee meeting, roads director Doug Ray said most property owners are compliant.
One exception is the owner of a large beaver dam along County Road 21, he said.
“If something happens with that thing . . . we’ve done our job,” said Dysart et al Reeve and County Warden Murray Fearrey. “We’re not pressing the issue.”