Nature’s engineers are once again stirring debate in Bow.
Less than a mile from the beaver-built impoundment that was drained in 2022, beavers have built another pond tucked near the trails at the end of Rollins Road.
The Bow Pioneers Club, which maintains many of the town’s trails, notified the public works department around two weeks ago that it would be clearing debris and sticks from culverts near the pond — routine maintenance intended to manage water levels. The pond’s partial draining will be one of the subjects of Tuesday’s meeting of the Bow Selectboard, which will consider ways to improve how these situations are handled.
Mark Dube, the trail master for the club, said water from the pond had been flowing over the trails for about three months, eroding nearly a foot and a half of soil because of the clogged culverts.
“It was done just to maintain the water level, not to drain the entire pond,” said Dube. “It was out of control.”
The trails around the pond are well-loved by locals who hike, walk their dogs and snowmobile there year-round. But not everyone was happy about the sudden drop in water levels.
Eleana Colby, selectboard member, said her phone started ringing with calls from concerned abutters after they noticed the pond’s water level had suddenly dropped. She said abutters were frustrated that they hadn’t been notified about the work.
“People are just looking for mutual respect, and they deserve it,” said Colby. “I think we all would feel that way.”
Dube told the Monitor the club had received permission from the town to do work on the Class VI road but declined to say whether neighbors were actually informed of the work.
Two ponds, two different stories
Beaver ponds have been a touchy subject in Bow in recent years.
In October 2022, the club drained another beaver pond on town-owned land between homes on Page Road, Pepin and Pine Crest Drive to reduce the risk of flooding a snowmobile bridge on the trails and restore the area to its original state.
That decision sparked controversy over concerns about the two beavers living there, who were trapped and killed.
The pond has not returned to its former state since then. Grass and vegetation have overtaken much of the area with little water left behind.
Drained in fall 2022 (left), the beaver dam site in Bow is overgrown with low water levels as of July 2025 (right).
But the pond near Rollins Road is a different story.
In spite of the recent work in July, the beavers are back at it, wasting no time rebuilding their dam, and the water is already rising again. There are even some turtles basking in the sun on fallen branches around the pond.
Kip McDaniel, select board chair, said while he was disappointed to see this happen in Bow again, he is relieved that the situation isn’t as severe as it was with the other pond.
“What was done for the previous pond was once it was done, it was effectively irreparable. With this one, because of certain different circumstances, we were very quickly able to stop it from becoming irreparable.”
McDaniel hopes the town bylaws can be changed so that any person or organization that wants to carry out work like this must first bring their plans before the Selectboard.
Taking that step would, from McDaniel’s perspective, avoid putting town employees in awkward situations and allow some deliberation over the effect that draining water could have on other people’s property.
“I’m hoping that with this incident and with all other incidents, we can continue to sort of act in a way that is respectful of everyone else,” said McDaniel. “These things are symbols of something larger. A community can either work together to solve something, or they can tear each other apart.”
Approach questioned
Clearing the culverts presented one problem; the way the work was carried out presented another.
Town manager David Stack said the work was considered routine, as the pond’s water level had been rising due to beaver activity and encroaching on the trail.
But Stack said that when the club got permission, his expectation was that the work would be done how the town’s public works crew would do it — carefully and by hand, a process which usually takes around three days — and not with a backhoe.
“If this was one of mine that was responsible, we would have gone in and climbed in there and cut stuff out and pulled the stuff out by hand to clear the drain pipe,” he said.
Dube said two of the culverts were cleared by hand, but that the club had to bring in machinery to clear the third one because it was so badly plugged.
Beaver dams not only serve as houses for beavers but can help create habitats for wetland species, including fish, birds and turtles. But beavers’ dam-building prowess can sometimes lead to flooding problems on both public and private property.
State law says any town, municipal or state employee is permitted to remove beavers, destroy beaver dams, build beaver pipes or erect fences on their property to safeguard land, public highways or bridges from damage.
The law also allows machinery to be used as long as it does not enter the water, wetlands or adjacent banks.
Colby, who is also a state representative, said she would consider working to clarify the language in the state law that currently leaves room for interpretation — particularly when it comes to the use of machinery, like backhoes, that could cause environmental harm.
Many abutters have cited the pond as a major reason they chose to buy property in the area. They value the natural setting and want to ensure it’s protected.
Colby noted that while there have been occasional reports of water reaching the trail after a series of storms, it hasn’t caused serious washouts or damage.
“It sounds like nature to me — that happens, and then it stops happening,” said Colby. “In this case, these beavers are in an area where, if you’re going to have beavers, you want them because the body of water is not in an area that would cause loss of property or loss of life.”