EMMITSBURG, Md. – Mayor James E. Hoover told the board of commissioners June 5 that killing more beavers at Rainbow Lake is “not planned to go on at this point,” and agreed to bring any future plans before the commissioners before taking action.

The 11.5-acre, 33-million-gallon Rainbow Lake serves as a water reservoir for Emmitsburg. Under normal conditions, the town is authorized to process as much as 168,000 gallons of lake water a day for public consumption.

Town staff stated previously they believe the beavers are contributing nutrients which fuel algae blooms, causing water processing issues at the treatment plant.

Board will monitor beavers’ fate

Town Manager David Haller acknowledged that two beavers were killed in March via a contract with local trapper John Miller, presumably within the constraints of the legal beaver-hunting season, which ended March 16.

The issue of killing additional Rainbow Lake beavers came to light when Haller stated in a recent activities report to the commissioners that the town had, in April, contracted for additional beaver trapping.

Entering into a contract in April, after the end of the March trapping season, suggested more kills were planned when the season began again in December, especially since a permits representative within DNR said that Miller did not possess a cooperative permit that would allow off-season hunting.

Board President Christopher V. Staiger told The Dispatch, “Due to the public reaction to previous trapping, the council has asked (at the June 5 town meeting) that staff consult the board prior to any resumption of efforts to remove the beavers in Rainbow Lake.”

The board president said that, personally, he would need to see some compelling evidence that the beaver population is actually contributing significantly to conditions leading to the algae growth and resulting difficulties at the water treatment plant before he would support renewed efforts to remove them.

“My initial thought is that a small population of such naturally occurring wildlife would provide better ecological balance than a sterilized environment,” Staiger said.

Options to save the beavers

Commissioner William B. O’Neil Jr. has questioned in the past why the town has not explored natural methods for dealing with the algae blooms.

O’Neil reminded The Dispatch that he has “stated on two previous occasions that a number of communities have sought natural ways of reducing algae growth, one of which is the tilapia fish; there are, however, other natural consumers of algae, as well.”

Also contributing to algae blooms might be other indigenous wildlife, fish that do not consume algae, yet deposit fecal matter that feeds the algae, the commissioner said.

“It would be well, I think for the town to contact local universities to ask their experienced and educated opinion on how best to manage algae blooms and, perhaps, to have them assess the key contributing factors to our specific situation,” O’Neil stated.

Neither the mayor nor the town manager responded to an e-mailed list of questions submitted regarding the manager’s April report and related issues by deadline.

Rocky Ridge-based Buck Forest Farm, owned by John and Linda Ballenger, has offered to adopt the beavers if they could be relocated. Beaver Branch runs through the farm and has not had beavers on it for decades, Linda Ballenger told The Dispatch.