This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Bow town officials have placed a temporary ban on draining local ponds, a decision aimed at cooling tensions after years of recurring disputes among residents over altering water levels in beaver-inhabited areas.
Selectboard members voted to place a moratorium on all drainage work on town-owned land and along Class 6 roads and trails — except when performed by official Department of Public Works personnel responding to an emergency.
The moratorium will remain in place while the town develops new guidelines.
“I think it would be helpful to formalize it,” said Angela Brennan, select board vice chair. “I think there are a lot of people who have been involved in dealing with the fallout, the consequences of actions that have been taken, that would really like to see this board take some kind of action.”
Selectman Chris Nicolopolous voted against the moratorium.
The issue came up again several weeks ago, when the Bow Pioneers Club, which maintains many of the town’s trails, carried out work on a beaver pond near the trails at the end of Rollins Road.
Mark Dube, trail master of the club, had received permission from the town’s public works department to clear debris around “beaver deceiver” equipment and culverts to help control water levels.
But that permission did not extend to the use of machinery.
Tim Sweeney, the town’s public works director, said the department does not authorize anyone to use machinery for culvert maintenance. He added that the department itself won’t resort to machinery until it has tried at least three times to clear the culverts by hand.
“I agreed that yes, he (Dube) could go do that by hand to bring it back to the exact same grade or elevation that the pond always has been at,” Sweeney said at the meeting. “I was misled by him, and I was very upset by it and still am.”
In an interview with the Monitor, Dube said machinery was brought in to clear the third culvert because the beavers had plugged it so thoroughly that it couldn’t be cleared by hand.
The Bow Pioneers Club also faced criticism in the fall of 2022 from abutters after draining a pond less than a mile from the one near Rollins Road. At that site, beavers had been trapped using snares and killed.
Town officials are expected to have a proposal for regulations for Class VI roads by September 9. These rules will cover trail maintenance, pond drainage and logging.
The board also decided that anyone wanting to drain a pond will now have to come before the selectboard. Previously, residents could get permission from a town designee — usually David Stack, the town manager, or Sweeney — but that won’t be enough anymore.
Eleana Colby, select board members said that abutters should be considered before any changes are made near their property.
“They need to be brought to the table if possible before we go and make changes to Class VI roads,” Colby said. “We need to make sure we’re not disrespecting or not having some sort of mutual agreement or collaboration with people who might be landowners of the land underneath said pond.”
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