Besides trapping/shooting the beavers, any tips for dealing with a culvert that is repeatedly plugged by beavers? The road into our camp has a culvert about 15" in diameter that gets plugged by beavers pretty regularly throughout the year. We've dug out the area upstream of the culvert with a backhoe in repeated attempts to unclog the culvert, so it's probably 5-6' deep on the upstream side, so it would be difficult but not impossible to install some fencing. Has anyone had luck with inserting another culvert with a 90 degree elbow with the opening facing down? I guess the idea is the beavers can't block the pipe because of the orientation of the hole, but I'm skeptical. This will likely be a temporary fix as we plan to redo the road with either bigger/multiple culverts or a bridge, but that project is a few years away yet.

Here's a picture of the road crossing the last time I was up about a week ago.



I understand removing the beaver will definitely help, but this is a spot where they seem to keep coming back. Looking for a solution to keep the road from getting washed out if it's plugged and we get a big rain (kind of like the 2 inches we're supposed to get in the next 48 hours).

Thanks!

Common occurrence in beaver country.
Only way to prevent it is to keep them trapped out when they show up.
After going thru several years of nuisance beaver records,the repeat spots where beaver move in after being totally eliminated as a colony is around 6 weeks.
In other words if your in the middle of prime beaver habitat,and you take out the entire established colony,you should be good for about 6 weeks before the pond is re-colonized with a new cohort.

Install a second culvert with a manual open gate. Nothing fancy for the gate. Say 4x 2" pipe driven into the ground with a piece of ply wood larger than the culvert opening at the upstream side. When the water comes up you will need something like a chain fall or come a long to lift the plywood up and out of the way. Once water goes down put the ply wood back. You may need to install a second gate on the down stream side just to keep the critter.

Lots of ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=beaver+proof+water+control+structures

Google Clemson Pond Leveler. People will trash it but it works and around here.

Nothing short of killing the beavers will prevent that. Suck it up and get them caught.

I've tried double pipe systems/ gates hog wire chutes etc. They will work with maintenance And trapping at the first sign of a re eatablished beaver colony.

Keep the traps ready!

I'm still trapping a spot like that. U get them trapped and then within a few weeks new ones are back. I'm having a hard time getting this one or two for some reason. Went and doctored it 330 site up again today.

Good luck but a never ending battle with them SOB.

had a camp with creek going through it dad bought it in1968 I sold it this year always had a beaver pond we trap ,broke , dam ,blew up dam , try pipe through dam 40 feet long they build dam out to were pipe was , best thing I did was trap , 6-8 beaver a year every year to keep them under control

Build a 3 sided fence extending out in front of the culvert pipe out about 4-5 feet. 4-5 inch square fencing works well. Install an 8 inch flexible plastic pipe under the fence. This pipe needs to extend into the culvert by a few feet and extend into deeper water upstream (whatever that length may be). At the end of the pipe in the deep water, build a cage out of the same material as the fence. Once the pond drains, the beaver will focus on the sound of the water inside of the culvert and pay no attention to the silent end of the pipe inside of the cage in the deep water.
They will give up pretty quick. Even if they don't give up, they can't fix it.
I don't really care about what "Only-trapping-will-work" folks say. This setup will prevent the culvert from being plugged.
I solve 99.9% of culvert-clogging beaver problems by trapping and shooting, but there are a few places (such as your situation as you describe it) that this beaver deceiver will work.

Seen the use of a large drain overflow elbow that sits away from the culvert with a long pipe that sits deeper into the culvert so when the culvert is "blocked" the over flow still drains.

Don't put any fencing material near the culvert.You will never be able to remove the dam without an excavator if you do.beaver will weave sticks and debris thru the fencing and it will be impossible to open by hand.

The easiest way to open a culvert in beaver country is to use a beaver gate or t-posts.
Only remove the pickets when the water is to the top of the culvert,that way you will have enough pressure to flush the culvert clean when you open it.
The biggest mistake people make with beaver gates is removing the pickets when there is not enough water to flush the debris clean out of the pipe.
Another is not replacing the pickets after flushing the culvert.
This is a well designed beaver gate.

Good ideas

Wet beaver hate electric fences. Hate'em a lot.

It won't prevent them from building another dam on the other end of the culvert or just below it which will still flood the road. Trapping/killing the beavers will prevent that as long as you stay on top of them. I'll repeat, nothing short of killing them and knocking out the new comers every couple months will prevent it.

Trap them hard, over and over. Another option is alteration of habitat which is time consuming and cost prohibitive!

Sounds like a job for Grumps and Restors main dynamite man, Hal probably has their number.

i feel like the only correct answer at a place such as this is "trap them"

That is the correct answer Ranger.
I did nuisance beaver control for many years as a full time agent,Trap out the beaver,and lower the water to natural flow.In that order.If you do the job properly and get rid of ALL the beaver you will be good for quite a while before you need to go back.This is the most cost effective way to control nuisance beaver.Also it is imperative to get on them when they show up,so regular r.o.w.patrols by someone familiar with beaver is necessary.Aerial surveys once a year and access to hydrologic maps will help identify high risk areas out of sight of r.o.w patrols,and will also allow you to identify dangerous locations that are priority to prevent washouts.