Drive up the dirt portion of Esom Hill Road well into the woods and one will find Old Jackson Chapel Road about as far west into Polk County as one can go without hitting the Alabama state line. Maybe just a few miles shy of that point, but out this way are residents who enjoy the quiet, rural atmosphere found in this forested enclave.

Until some unwanted neighbors have been moving into the area and causing trouble with their building work. Yet these aren’t the kind of neighbors who have brought in heavy machinery and crews that the county can fine and shut down. They aren’t bothered by permits or any kind of intervention.

Turns out these pesky neighbors are at the ready with more material when the county moves into unplug any progress they’ve made. A problem brought to the attention of the rest of the Board of Commissioners by County Commissioner Scotty Tillery during their work session last week.

During the July 11 meeting, Tillery brought up the problem being posed by beavers as part of the Public Works Committee and Finance Committee meeting update as the county plans to spend around $5,500 a year for the U.S. Department of Agriculture consultant to come and trap nature’s master builders around the county.

Tillery said that as soon as the beaver dams are knocked down by Public Works officials, they are just put right back up.

“We have one at Old Jackson Chapel and there are so many beavers in this area that it has ruined the roadway and almost turned it into a swamp,” he said. “We’ve been having to maintain them – some of them every week.”

Beavers might look cute and cuddly, but their habit of building dams to make their habitats perfectly wet and swampy for their dens wreaks havoc on properties routinely around the county. All it takes is just about any kind of flow or access that a beaver can dam up and turn into their own personal watering holes.

Multiple locations across the county are experiencing problems due to the beaver populations having grown over the past years in Polk County. Old Jackson Chapel Road is just one of those areas where beavers have dammed an area and then repaired it time and again when Public Works crews attempt to clear it out. Which is a big problem for Public Works Director Dion Senn.

Senn’s department is already understaffed compared to their needs and has a lot of work on their plate year round. The twice-annual burst of building

Already a dirt road, the washout grows worse when portions of the track are turned into ponds or wetlands where the beavers play. That too isn’t limited to dirt roads either. Sixth Street and Friendship Road have taken some major damage as well as Mountain Home Loop, Senn said. This ultimately costs time and money for road repairs that weren’t budgeted, eating into the money set aside for planned maintenance.

Sixth Street is a good example of what can happen when beavers get out of control with their dam building.

“On Sixth Street, we’ve had four or five sinkholes come up,” Senn said. “The beavers got in high water and undermine the base of the road and causing sinkholes.”

He noted the damage around Friendship Church on Friendship Road is due to beavers. Hill’s Creek Road is being washed out by the damaged caused by flooding along the shoulders, which undermines the asphalt surface.

Mountain Home Road is going to need to be entirely repaved due to roads being overtopped by floodwaters.

Senn said it takes a dump truck and excavator to remove beaver dams each time they go up being operated by two employees and during the two seasons when beavers get into the mood to make cubs it takes weekly trips to bring those dams down and keep the flooding from getting out of control.

“Depending on how much is built back, could take as much as two days to get beaver dams knocked down,” Senn said. “During the weekend, they just build back and we have to start all over again… it’s tying up a lot of limited resources that we have and is costing the county a considerable amount of money.”

The county is seeking some outside help with the problem in hopes to bring some peace and quiet for the neighbors having to deal with the beavers honestly doing what they do best: building dams and creating ponds for their habitats. The USDA consultant will go out with the permission of local property owners and on county-owned land to go and trap beavers to remove them from the territories most impacted by their dams.

County Manager Matt Denton didn’t have an immediate timetable for when the problem might finally be managed, but said the consultant was coming soon. Nature, after all, can’t be controlled on humanity’s clock.

The hope is that trapping and removing beavers in these targeted areas will end with a greater amount of control over how they are hurting roadways and private property with their dam building efforts, and to ensure that new populations aren’t able to grow up and spread across Polk County to turn it into a swampy mess.

Additionally, Senn said that property owners can get county help for knocking down beaver dams when the signs start showing up on their land. He noted that if landowners give their permission, the county will send out public works crews to knock out beaver dams from streams and waterways that are causing flooding behind where the dams are built.

“It may not be a beaver dam, it could be clogged drains we need to take care of too,” Senn said. “Either way it will help us minimize flooded roadways, which is good for everyone.”

Those who need help can contact public works, and speak with the Public Works Secretary about getting a work order for a beaver dam or potential beaver dam. The county will also send out the USDA consultant to land where beavers are found if reported to Public Works.

The important thing to remember is that if the county doesn’t know about beaver dams on private property, they can’t help people with their issues.

Those who believe they have a beaver dam or dams on their property, or drainage blockages where they need help, please call Public Works at 770-749-2132.