Park Board hears about beaver monitoring

The Hill County Park Board heard an update Monday about ecological monitoring at Beaver Creek Park, including work looking at the beaver population there.

Lou Hagener, who has been working with people on monitoring different aspects of the park, said he has been working on identifying how many beaver dams are in the park and what their impact is.

Hagener said he started a survey in May as he had been looking at the stream health through various methods along with beaver monitoring and trying to find a way to monitor both.

“It is the health of the stream that we need to focus on,” Hagener said. “The health of the stream in some places is pretty good or there are some (places) that are pretty disappointing.”

Some people are not happy with the condition of Beaver Creek in some parts of the park, he said, but the health of the park as a whole needs to be looked at.

“Mother Nature doesn’t live by our rules,” Hagener said. “She doesn’t give a damn about our goals and objectives. She is busy trying to recover and heal up watersheds and streams and upland plant communities.”

He said he has not been able as yet to completely assess the number of beaver dams in the park, but will continue to work on it.

He added that the conditions regarding beavers and beaver dams can change very quickly.

Hagener said what should be monitored is the health of the stream, not the presence of beavers.

Board member Renelle Braaten said the number of dams can be misleading.

“Every beaver dam isn’t a problem,” she said.

She thanked Hagener for the work he has done so far, saying she would like to send it to a specialist who will be at the August board meeting to talk about alternatives to trapping beavers.

Braaten said she wants to set up a noon meeting where board members can have an in-depth discussion with him before the meeting.

The board also discussed finding a trapper. The trapper who had worked the park is retiring from that job.

Park Superintendent Chad Edgar said a possibility is splitting up the park into sections with different trappers taking different sections.

Tom Buell, who said he has been trapping for 60 years, told the board that wouldn’t be needed. One trapper could easily trap the entire park, and could regulate the trapping to focus on where it is needed.

The board requested Buell come back to a later meeting to give more information on how that could be done, possibly the September meeting after they hear the trapping alternatives in August.

Lindsey Brandt of Havre Trails told the board that work is ongoing to create a map of a potential folf course proposed on the park near the Rotary Falls Trail.

Board Chair Steve Mariani asked the board and audience if pursuing the course was something that would benefit the park.

The board and audience generally agreed that it would be popular, especially with the younger generation and would not have to be an eyesore or problem for the park.

Mariani said his family agrees with that.

“My kids are saying, ‘why wouldn’t you have a folf course?’” he said.

Brandt also said Montana Conservation Corps was back at the park and completed a new loop on the Rotary Falls Trail.

Edgar said the usage of the park has been pretty busy the last half of the month, and he said Father’s Day was the busiest he had seen in a while.

With the 4.9 inches of rain the park received in June, the conditions of the vegetation has improved, he said, although it is keeping the staff members busy mowing.

The staff also has been working fixing tables and painting signs in the park area.

The board also discussed an item on the agenda for a campfire ban.

Edgar said that at the start of last month, things were drying up, but the June rain has pretty well improved the situation.

The board agreed to keep the discussion of a ban on the agenda for next month to review the situation then.

The next Park Board Meeting is Monday, Aug. 5, at the Timmons Room in the Hill County Course. Deadline to put items on the agenda for the next meeting is noon, July 26.