BEAVERS: The city's other drainage engineers

The city's other drainage engineers

West Sac hopes to deport some dam-building beavers

ANYBODY HOME? Just under the traffic of Jefferson Boulevard in Southport runs Blacker Canal -- evidently home to a beaver or two. The critters are also doing some unwanted work at Bridgeway Lakes (News-Ledger photo)

By Steve Marschke

News-Ledger Editor

West Sacramento’s Southport area may have experienced a building boom that replaced hundreds of acres of open space with a sea of roofs and asphalt. But it’s still rural enough for residents to hear the occasional call of a coyote – or to discover the canal-clogging handiwork of beavers.

Ken Ruzich, manager of Reclamation District 900, is one of the people charged with making sure the city stays dry. He has some jurisdiction over both the levees that keep the river out, and over the canals that help empty West Sacramento of drainage water.

Beavers don’t seem to have the same agenda. They’re prone to building dams in the canal system, trying to create ponds. Once again, Ruzich has called Fish & Game to arrange for a visiting trapper to “deport” some local beavers that are damming up the canal system.

“We have probably four or five places where it’s a problem,” said Ruzich. “It’s hard to tell if it’s the same beaver, since they can cruise from one place to another in the canal system. Up at Bridgeway Lakes, one of them wants to keep it plugged so water can’t come in. Every day, we go by and remove the debris.”

The trouble isn’t new.

“This has been going on for years,” he said. “The water doesn’t need to move right now (in the summer). But come winter, that’s when the canal system needs to move properly.”

Ruzich said that the state Fish and Game department issues a permit for beavers to be trapped and “deported.”

“The trapper actually comes from (federal) Fish and Wildlife. He works at night, and might already be working. He doesn’t necessarily call us.”

(EDITOR'S NOTE, 8/4/08: At press time for this article, the News-Ledger assumed that the trappers' action of "deporting" the beavers meant "relocation." A citizen has informed the newspaper that this is a euphamism -- the beavers are killed when trapped, as there are few places nearby where they might be welcome as transplants. The News-Ledger has not yet confirmed this.)