Return to the Beaver Pond 

I appreciate all the views that this video and my original beaver dam video have gotten. The amount of views I have had are truly incredible! As a general practice for my channel I try and respond to every comment I receive. However the volume of comments in this series is eating up a serious amount of my free time. From now on I will still read all comments but I will no longer commit to responding to everything. I will try and respond to legitimate questions or suggestions especially if someone raises a new point. Sorry, I just need to strike the right balance. I also want to say that I appreciate everyone's perspective. But, there is are a small minority of viewers who feel the need to throw insults or threats my way. Believe it or not I have received death threats over putting a few pipes in a beaver dam. If you don't like the content of my channel you don't need to make an insult or threat or even give a thumbs down. If you don't like my channel or any channel just stop watching and look for something that fits your taste. I will continue to leave up negative comments but I will remove anything that is insulting or threatening. These comments are routinely deleted and reported to RU-vid as abusive. I choose to be a content creator and put myself 'out there' if you don't like my work you can vote with your feet and simply not watch. I will continue to do what I feel is best for my land and family and will continue to make the videos I want to make. If you are with me in that, then great! if you have a legit criticism, that is fine too, please express yourself. Know that I draw the line at abuse and it won't be tolerated. My skin is much thicker than 'Troll Skin'! Kevin Outdoors

I’m a beaver and I’ve gotta say this was a nice compromise in order to co exist. I’m still going to clog the pipes though.

As a former habitat biologist that spent my career protecting floodplain habitat I applaud your approach. The remaining pond is good for you and the beavers. And you are leaving the area around the pond for wildlife. I hope you will continue to leave the area as wild as possible for all the living things to enjoy. Well done!

Its great you found a way to live with the beavers. A lot of people would have solved the problem with traps and dynamite. Nice one Kevin! Wade

You've mentioned a lot of good points with regards to beavers. Beavers dig canals and use them like underwater roadways as an effective way to drag their branches. They also dig right up to trees for easy access to their food. These underwater paths make things easier for them and in some cases protect them from predators. Beaver ponds are eco-systems. When a pond/wetland is created (by diverting water with their dams) it feeds an entire community including birds of all kinds, frogs, squirrels, fish, deer, moose and more. For every gallon of water that beavers store in their ponds, they're capturing approx. 5 - 10 gallons more underground (that is pushed down by the weight of the pond) which ultimately recharges the aquifer. This can be incredibly helpful for farmers, especially during droughts, when water sources are scarce for their animals. Try not to feel bad about those downed trees. Rotting vegetation like that is very helpful in adding nutrients to the soil. Despite wetlands looking "messy," they're extremely functional and can filter and purify water. The whole notion behind a beaver's behavior is to "slow down water" by damming it so that it can be used effectively rather than being allowed to dry up and evaporate.

As someone who simply stumbled across the 2 videos on the subject I can say from a third party animal lover and logical thinker point of view that this is by far the best way of dealing with beavers I have come across, not only have you kept your property from being damaged you did it in a way that allowed the beavers to continue their work just in a limited copasity, brilliant. Too many times I have seen these videos go the way of explosives or heavy equipment and this was a lovely change so you did a wonderful thing so don't give any concern to those down voting your videos. You found a elegantly simple way to live with nature rather than destroying it or letting it completely overrun you, great job.

I very much appreciate your approach to this. It does seem like you definitely took nature into account and didn't take the easy route which would be to probably just shoot the beavers. And I like how you point out all of the benefits to a beaver pond. Good onya mate!

Just because somebody in California doesn’t like what you do in your back yard, does not make what you do wrong.

No beavers were harmed in the making of this video... only out smarted.

You are on beautiful land and you seem to be a good steward of that land. I'm glad your pipes worked. Best to you.

What a cool look at natural succession taking place after draining the dam. Looks like you may have restored a lot of the original wetland habitat. Thanks for documenting this! Very interesting to see!

like you said, it's all about balance. when you live in such a rural area, you need to take precautions for your own house/land/property! you've done a great job balancing the problem, keeping the wildlife intact without killing anything and also reducing the risk of your own property! KUDOS to you sir! keep it up!

This is a good compromise. No matter what some uneducated people say, you are being a good steward and guardian to your property, home/family as well as nature and wildlife. Sometimes that can be hard to do.

So! You're the one!! - the Beavers

Thanks for the follow up. I was interested when you put the pipes in if the beavers would successfully clog them. I can't believe how smart their attempts were! Glad it worked out and that's a beautiful piece of property you got there! I'm looking myself.

I love how you have found a way for your land, your wildlife and your family to all live together. Nice going.

Good job on the pond renovation.probly got muskrats in there too.all wildlife benefitted.

Those beavers are persistent! Next, they’ll try glueing a cap on the ends of those pvc pipes.

I found your channel by accident. it's nice that you like and want nature around you and you take the time and effort to make sure it continues to thrive. you are living with nature and are not trying to kill it

Beavers are the best engineers ever! Well done to you for outsmarting them without harming them, much respect!

I am insanely jealous of your property. I'd love to be able to have so much land, but in the uk, space is a bit cramped. It's also great to see the beavers haven't been moved on or killed, living together in harmony 😉

Finally, a video where the landowner doesn't feel the need to kill off, natures brilliant engineers, of ecosystems. Kudos, to you, sir.

Beaver Wars, The Beaver Strikes back, Return of the Beaver

Saw the pond at it's largest. Well done. I really like beaver, but they need to be kept in check, not eliminated. They do have a purpose, all the new game around your property, but all the ravaged land when not controlled. Enjoy your site.

This reminds me of when I was a boy. My Dad used to take me way out in the woods to go fishing on a beaver dam. One of my favorite childhood memories. The dam was huge, thick and very sturdy. We caught a lot of fish, but I never seen a beaver! Every year the Army corp of engineers would come out and blow up the dam, and every year it was quickly rebuilt, and we would fish again. I wonder how many taxpayer dollars were spent on blowing up that dam every year. It seems to me that the Army corp of engineers could have thought of your idea and saved a lot of time and money. Great Job!

I applaud your approach to handling the situation. It was well thought out and executed. I would have trapped the beaver out of that particular pond, but only because I am a beaver trapper and know that more beaver will move in to take up the void. Also beaver meat is very good to eat, and the fur would supplement my income. I would not trap the other beaver because I love to have them around, except when they become a problem, as in your situation. You have some beautiful land, you are very fortunate. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I used to bust holes in Beaver dams as a kid. They would always fix the holes in a day or two.

Great video and story. I think its great you found a solution without killing or trapping. Really, to outsmart the beavers in their habitat is no small thing. Hardest physical work I ever did was helping some friends take down a damn in Iowa. Handpicks, shovels, axes....unbelievable the engineering the beavers could accomplish. And the repairs they can do in a short time. It was a war of attrition, which eventually we won, but it took weeks. Other farmers in that area used dynamite and guns. To those who have issues with this consider the alternatives. This is a great solution Kevin, and you clearly care for your land and the wildlife on it. Great work, and thanks for sharing!

Nice video. I’m not worried about the beavers. Idea for you.... water through pipes turns water wheel, which turns car alternator, which charges batteries... first step toward free electricity. That what I would for sure do if the lands fits it.

The regrown areas are amazing. In a year you may not be able to walk back there. Very nice.

So Nice to see someone caring about the nature

we have had similar issues on our farm acreage. we had shallow swampy areas which we contracted to have dug out into two deep ponds and water drained into the two of those giving us useable pastures. Even with pipes, like you found, the beavers managed to plug up the exit flow of the larger pond which endangered the earthen dam surrounding one side so we had a trapper come in and remove 2 of them. There is a fairly new hut in the smaller pond and that one causes no problems since the small overflow ditch is easily cleaned out each day when I take my pasture walk during chores and the pipe exit there is also easy to access to clean out. We love wildlife and take the job of land stewardship seriously. The deep ponds now support lots of fish, blue herons, ducks, geese, and a family of otters. The overflow pipes and ditches flow year round even with temps well below zero here in upstate NY and deer now come down from the back hills to get fresh water all year long. That source of fresh water was not there for them in the past when the acreage consisted of shallow swamps that froze solid all winter. We did not have to secure permission to dig out the ponds as town surveyor maps indicated the ponds were actually there at one time before the beaver population moved in and changed the landscape. Interestingly, the beavers were brought into a neighbor's property illegally as they wanted them to damn the water flow to give them a pond. They forgot to tell the beavers the plan and they quickly moved onto our acreage. I understand that many city folks do not approve of trapping but they also are not involved in land stewardship which goes way beyond loving one type of animal. It is actually illegal to trap to rehome beavers to other locations due to the amount of damage they can do to protected watershed areas. We also used to get hate messages when we had a harness horse racing stable but again it was coming from folks who formed opinions not based on fact, folks pulled in by deceptive videos and such. We do the best we can do and the haters can hate but that is their issue, not ours. Nice job in reclaiming that acreage.

Would love to see you setup some cameras so we can see the beavers in action! They sure are clever, love the videos, keep them comin!

This should be a series in which you revisit every time you do something with the dam. Love your friendly approach with dealing with the beavers. The entire family gets excited every time you post your beaver dam videos.

You succeeded! “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” Also Leopold.

Well done Kevin,a humane solution to animal problem.You are managing your land with skill,the beavers will manage the pond.👏👏👏👏👏

Smart, balanced stewardship. This is how our species should interact with our planet.

Wow, some of the comments here are really amazing. People take out their issues in the strangest places. Kevin, thanks for this series. I'm planning to lower a beaver pond on my property using pipes. It is good to see how successful you were.

It's really just mind over matter. You don't mind, so they don't matter! It's your property, and you've dealt with the problem in an enviromentally safe manner. I'd bet some opinions would change if it were their property...

I absolutely loved the content and narrative in this video. You live in a paradise and you’ve allowed your little furry friends to do the same. Thanks so much for sharing this with us. Greetings from Ireland 🇮🇪

I could just imagine what the beavers do at night, they’ll get their hardhats and start planning how to rebuild the dam after you made a hole in it. I can just imagine a beaver telling the other beavers to be safe, amping them up to boost morale. I just find it hilarious that there is actually a beaver that probably is the one in charge of safety.

As others have said - I appreciate the balance you found! I have drained a pond by starting a siphon with 4" hose using a valve on one side. Dunk the hose, purge the air, and then pull the valved side over the top and down to the lower ground, then open the valve.

If they figure that out, and defeat it, consider a bit different approach. A much larger pipe. Buried deeper, going through the dam. Coming out the downside of the dam far enough, that the end hangs well in the air. Inside the dam... Go farther in, as well. Then put an elbow in. And put in a standpipe. Make the top of that pipe, at the level you want the pond to be. Put an upside down cone, made of rebar, on top of that pipe, to prevent them from just sticking stuff in the top of the pipe.

You're cool, not totally destroying the balance of the beaver environ, cool, so many other vids w/o septic issues or ANY issues other than looking at beavers and dams as negative, you hot the best balance.

The only thing I would have done differently is taken a cattle panel and rolled it up to about 1/4 of its size. Cut a 10 or 12 inch hole in it and ran a 10 or 12 inch culvert out. This would have given you about a 4 ft diameter screen that they would have to try and plug. Otherwise very good job. Always nice to live in harmony

Mate I live in Australia and we Dont have Beavers, But Good on you for out witting them and finding a good healthy balance. Top Job! - I would like to see more of what it looks like today if you could make another video. I think you have done an amazing thing here! - Skorp, Western Australia

Although I am no fan of plastic in the wilderness I'm pleased to see that you were conscientious and sensitive about the wilderness and the local wildlife living on your property. This is the right way to live with nature and I am pleased to see you living in harmony with nature. It is a test of wills for sure, yours and the beavers. But I'm pleased that you enjoy having the beavers on your property. They are far more beneficial than they are detrimental as I'm sure you are already aware. Great Job. It pleased me that you did not need to use your rifle to kill the beavers. Just remember, they were there for thousands of years before you arrived. They will be around long after you've gone and your house has turned to dust... as long as you can keep living in harmony with them. Thanks for sharing your learning experience with us.

Well done you sorted the prob with no loss of life.Nice land by the way.

A nice balance between ecology and coexistence. In Texas a lot of property owners would just shoot everything with a pulse.

years ago we had a beautiful little spot we used to love to go picnic at. then the beavers moved in. Its amazing how they can decimate an area. Also at my folks place beavers moved in and while it didnt affect my parents property (on the hill side) it flooded the pasture of the farmer next door completely. His cattle had nowhere to eat and he had to do something about it or give up cattle farming. I understand your problem completely.

My dad would be in his mid 90' if he was still here and was a woodsman and outdoors man he once told me that if you have problems with Beavers damming up around your land. The easiest none harmful solution is to create a small oil slick by using Vegetable oil in a sealer jar with a small hole punched in the lid and sub merged by the Dam and as the oil leaks out it will create a thin slice on the top of the water. Beaver like to have oil free fur and will move their dam from that spot upstream. Any eatable oil used in foods is not harmful to the Animals and will be used by natural plants over time.

I applaud you for leaving the beavers. My first thought was kill everything and blow the dam with tannerite. Thanks for giving me a better perspective.

You might find later that you'll have to put a large cage around the pipe inlets to make it more difficult for the beavers to plug those ends. They're smart little boogers.

Thank u for letting the beavers live an that was smat putting them pipes in.

People will moan about anything these days. I felt bad for their hard work but it's sure as shit better than shooting them. You did it in a way where you both live and share the area together. Although if they ever figure out the pipes you run the risk of creating some scary smart beavers lol

This seems like a great solution without scaring the beavers off. We will try it for our pond and see how it goes. Thanks!

The sound of running water makes beavers build.

I've seen a vid on here where land owners in the US installed a 12" pipe through a dam , then put a bellmouth overflow about 20 feet into the actual dammed up water . the level only goes to the level of the bell mouth and is quiet. Apparently Beavers are attracted to the sound of running water and will try and stop it. The size of the pipe prevents the dam over filling in times of heavy rain and so on .

Redoing the septic most likely won't even be a option. The water table goes up and the soil won't perk.

What a beautiful pond. Love your approach in working with the Beavers. What a great wildlife habitat you have there.

I hear beaver tacos are tasty. Lol nice balance they still have a pond and u have land that attracts other wildlife.

Beavers are fascinating creatures who hate running water. Experiments were run involving speakers set up to play the sound of running water near beavers in the wild, and they tried to dam the speakers. Just wanted to share!

Ok, ready for another update.

Watching your other video, I couldn't help thinking that the beavers were eyeing you from the treeline, thinking "Try to take down our dam, eh buddy? Just wait..." And sure enough, they even tried to plug the 3" pipes! You have your work cut out for you with those little critters, but great to see you're all sharing a lovely parcel of forest.

You know anyone who is bothered by this isnt really thinking. It could be much worse for the beavers if you were to give up the land and a development were to be built. Then there wouldnt be multiple ponds for the beavers and they would likely be slaughtered. I think it is a nice compromise and good stewardship of the land. With you owning the land the beavers are likely to have a relatively safe location to live they just cant flood your home and septic :)

I didn't know that a solution like that was available. Seems like a great idea. It draws down the water level, but doesn't eliminate the pond. I live in town so I don't have much experience with beavers., but it seems you have solved a problem in a way that requires minimal maintenance over time.

I love your property .... So beautiful

Our property is a lot like yours. I'm amazed at how big a tree a beaver can take down. My husband has had to remove many trees to keep our yard dry. Hopefully we don't have to do as much work as you had to do.

You pay the land tax not the beavers screws the haters

I came here from the original video. Wow - only four months and the land is already regrowing native vegetation? Maybe that's normal - I'm just a city slicker and on the rare occasion I get to see nature it always leaves me awed. The best thing is that now the native animals who occupied this land before the dam can start to repopulate and rebuild the native ecosystem which was there first.

Don't worry about ignorant people. So many people forget we are also a part of nature and are just as important as the wildlife.

Now if that was my property, next step clean up the pond, make a good path to the pond and put in a bench and slowly level the land. That was a great approach to the water level with the pipes. Also maybe I don't know the lay of the land but why not create a stream closer to your house? Also with some water flow, hydroelectricity.

That was the best answer in the world!

Thank you for returning me to my pond. Love you.

Well I got my answer from the question I asked you the other post I'm glad to see the water level is down for you... But for me personally with the beaver count being as high as it is I would either Harvest a few of those beavers myself or have a fur trapper come in in Harvest a portion of those beavers for me to keep the ecology and check.... Don't worry about the haters that don't know nothing about living outside of their pretty city limits.... Beavers can destroy a person's land in a very short time if they're not kept in check they are very destructive animals..... And when their numbers good too many it brings other problems even to the Beavers themselves in their health and wellness.... Be blessed.... BBE 😀

Good solution . Thanks for being good to the animals.

Hey man I hear that beaver tastes pretty god just letting you know 😂

That's really beautiful country though. I love pine forests. Thank you, very much, for finding a way to work WITH the beavers instead of eradicating them. They were here first. They deserve to live in peace too. Maybe not with the all out flooding, but like this it seems more amicable between you and the wildlife and that's important.

Don't push Beavers to corner they are extreme engineers ya Dam engineers 😆

Great solution, I was really thinking I was going to see heavy equipment or a lot of tanerite being used. Was really hoping for tanerite but this solution works as well.

Beaver shenanigans can be good and bad to the surrounding land.

I have the same issue in one spot on my property. beavers keep damming up a small creek flooding my property. I go out break up the dam and overnight they build it back up. I wish I had a backhoe.

Glad to see how you done what you did without getting in a battle with the cry baby activist. You done a great job.

Hey man, you did it the best way you knew how. The beavers will survive and so will you. Thanks for sharing.

,,,very good very nice ,,thanks for sharing,,,

Screw what people say or think. You got a life, a family, and ain't no body giving you one penny to pay for your livelihood.

The only way to please everyone is to never make a video...

Cool video. I am a nature photographer but also a realist. You have to do what you have to do to protect you family! Great idea with the pipes!

Gr8 clear did kev, but could you turn up the volume!.:-)

this was awesome to see the balance of nature and our needs, good job man.

Just pray they don’t grow opposable thumbs. They will take over the world

I respect the fact you are trying to find balance with your property and nature. If it was me and my property, let's just say I would have enough winter hats to last me a lifetime. However I am not saying/suggesting you do that also. Your property, do as you please.

And that my friends is where mosquitoes come from.

I live in a small town in central Mass. population around 7,000. We have an extensive conservation trail system. I am part of a small group of retired folks who try to keep the trails open. It is an interesting battle with the resident beavers every year, we often reroute the trails to accommodate them. We make a valiant effort, but it is a fifty-fifty split.

ever thought of installing a small scale hydro plant? the pipes you have installed are half way there and the beavers are already maintaining your head of water for free!

Good job. Aint easy to out think a beaver. Nice balance.

Well I made sure to go back and LIKE your other video. Made sure to do the same for ya on this one too. Thx Kev!! Keep it up. Nobody likes em pesky beavers. I prefer to shoot em. Bang Bang

I really enjoyed both videos. I thought they were very interesting and it was kind of fun to see how the beavers would make attempts to undo what you had done. It makes it kind of a fun game that way.

Personally if it was a choice between beaver and replacing my septic i would be eating beaver that night. pfftt to the haters.

And that it’s a wonderful natural balance and a great job.