Almost a year has passed since the removal of a beaver dam in Bow, and efforts to restore the drained pond are still ongoing, including a recent meeting between the town and state Department of Environmental Services.

Concerned abutters from Page Road, Pepin and Pine Crest Drive, as well as members of the select board sought strategies from state officials to encourage water to collect in the pond situated on town-owned land, which could attract new beavers to live there after the old ones were trapped and killed.

Mark Sanborn, the assistant commissioner of DES, clarified that the role of the state agency is to provide guidance on what is permissible within the statutes and regulations, rather than give advice on specific courses of action.

“You can’t rebuild the dam, you can remove the dam; you’ve got to let nature and beavers in the water do that,” Sanborn said. “The closest we could come to enforcing is to make sure the land wasn’t disturbed by humans as per the request of the owner in this case the town.”

Last October, after receiving a permit from the state’s Fish and Game Department and permission from Town Manager David Stack, members of the Bow Pioneers Snowmobile Club removed the beaver dam to reduce the risk of flooding to a bridge that is used by snowmobiles in the winter.

“We want the pond back. We like having a bridge but it may not be that bridge,” said Sandy Crystall, chair of the subcommittee that was created after the beaver dam was breached and residents complained. Crystall said the existing bridge is too low, which is why it was threatened by the beaver dam.

Ever since the incident, tensions have risen between abutters, town officials, and members of the snowmobile club, resulting in heated debates at public meetings, the establishment of a subcommittee to address the issue of beaver dam management and the recent effort to  construct a human-made dam with the hope to get beavers to return.

Upset by the current situation, Lisa Franklin, a resident on Pine Crest Drive, expressed her concern regarding the health risks posed to the public due to the drained pond, which now resembles a mud pit.

“One concern is the mosquito population, which is insane with having no running water and no fish or things like that are eating larvae.” said Franklin. “The stink is down there, which I’m pretty sure also affects property value too.”

Looking at possible solutions, Crystall suggested the construction of beaver dam analogs. These man-made structures aim to replicate natural beaver dams and attract beavers to return to the area.

“The fact is that there are ways that this kind of a low-tech technology could be used in a situation like this,” Crystall added, pointing to how this approach has been used in other states.

After hearing several concerns, Sanborn urged the town and abutters to reach a consensus and put forth a formal document, allowing the state agency to review the proposal and provide feedback during a pre-application meeting.

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