Tucked away at the end of a dirt road in Hopkinton is a sprawling expanse of wetlands, cocooned by towering pine trees and the sound of croaking frogs, offering a sense that the area has never been touched by human hands.

However, not too long ago, the swamp at the end of Cross Road was completely drained, leaving nothing but a mud pit with lifeless fish scattered across.

The reason for this drastic measure was a conflict between humans and beavers.

Bonnie Christie, a conservation commission member in Hopkinton, sees beavers as key species in shaping the present-day landscape and creating a habitat for wildlife, including herons and turtles.

“Beaver and humans can coexist,” said Christie.

“You just need to have regulations for wetlands that keep people from building near those areas and be vigilant about protecting wetlands.”

The same industrious engineers of nature have been at the center of a dispute in the neighboring town of Bow, where a beaver dam was destroyed due to the potential risk of flooding a snowmobile trail on town-owned land. As part of the process, the beavers were trapped and killed. A similar dispute in Hopkinton years ago could foreshadow a possible road ahead in Bow.

In Hopkinton, the conflict between beavers and humans erupted in 2017 when the animals built a dam and flooded a portion of a Class VI road, cutting off access to a landowner’s woodlot. The water also swamped the surrounding trees, slowly killing them.

Ron Klemarczyk, vice chair of Hopkinton’s Conservation Commission and a forester who had previously done timber sales for the landowner, said another group also wanted to knock down the beaver dam to open up the road to connect a trail that loops around Hopkinton Village and Contoocook Village.

“Everyone was talking about the wildlife in Bow, but I don’t think anyone out there, any of the landowners, were losing timber, their income,” said Klemarczyk as the difference in the situation between the two towns. “But the trails were involved in both parts.”

Both Hopkinton and Bow faced the issue of beaver dams located on town-owned land, giving the town the authority to address the situation.

Taking measures to make the road accessible once again, the town of Hopkinton made the decision to breach the dam and install a culvert to drain the wetland.

Christie said she spotted oil slicks and tire tracks on the soil after the wetland was drained and filed a complaint with the Department of Environmental Services.

The town of Hopkinton received a citation from the state agency for failing to obtain the required permit to use heavy machinery in wetlands. Before the state agency could inspect and address the situation, the streams within the area began gradually filling up the wetland within months. The beavers returned and constructed a new dam, transforming the landscape into wetland, filling the area with water and wildlife.

In Bow, someone tried to build a man-made dam on the land to get the water to return back, but the DES ruled it was a violation and the town officials asked abutters to leave the pond alone.

Despite the revival of the wetland in Hopkinton, it has not entirely resolved the issue at hand.

The dam built by the relentless beavers caused the Class VI road to flood just as it did before it was drained. That left the landowner upset as sections of his woodlot now lie submerged, affecting his potential earnings from timber sales. Moreover, the road cannot be accessed by residents.

A subcommittee in Bow dealing with beaver pond management has been working on a plan to address the problem and potentially restore the pond to its former state.

Looking at how nature is taking its course in Hopkinton, Sandy Crystall – chair of Bow’s conservation commission – said there is always a possibility that beavers could come back and the pond can fill back up on its own. She said it would be better than spending a large sum of money to find a solution to retain water in the pond if that happens.

“Even if the beavers come back and make the pond, we’re probably going to have the same threat to the bridge because it may be that it’s really too low,” said Crystall.

Since the area was drained, the bridge has been redecked, but it remains the same height.

According to Mark Dube, a member of the Bow Pioneers Snowmobile club who received permission from the town manager, there is no need to raise the bridge or replace the beaver dam because they were holding too much water back and eroding the trails.

“Let nature take its course and see what happens,” said Dube. “If the beavers come back, then we are going to make it the responsibility of the town to remove the beavers and remove the situation.”

In Bow, efforts were made to regulate the water level using beaver flow pipes to foster healthy cohabitation between humans and beavers. But the beavers kept clogging the pipes, leaving them ineffective for their intended purpose.

But in Hopkinton, there were no efforts to manage the situation with beaver flow pipes. The town eventually just left the beavers to their own devices.

Patrick Tate, wildlife biologist at New Hampshire Fish and Game said beaver flow pipes are as effective as long as they are maintained.

“I have not seen a beaver pipe design yet that is 100% maintenance-free,” said Tate. “People become frustrated and stop maintaining the beaver pipes; the beavers block them up and turn the pipe into part of the beaver dam.”

While beavers are important to the ecosystem and have the ability to hold back water and create nutrient-rich environments, the dam structures can break and allow a surge of water to flow through during times of flooding, causing damage to roads and properties.

However, it is not something that happens a lot, said Tate.

“I truly don’t know the answer of how to balance the benefits of beavers to the ecosystem and the impacts to human structures and keep opposing viewpoints satisfied,” said Tate.” I think it comes down to a compromise between viewpoints.”

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