
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993                   TAG: 9308260179
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Medium

PARK OFFICIALS WANTS THEIR BEAVERS BACK

Beavers have been a presence at Huntley Meadows Park for decades and have left their mark with a dam 300 yards long built of twigs, branches and mud in a creek that runs through the area.

But when a wooden walkway was constructed through the wetlands of the 1,261-acre park last year, the bucktoothed creatures began deserting their dam along Barnyard Run Creek.

Officials with the Fairfax County Park Authority had reasoned that the walkway, which winds through about 100 acres of the swamp, would attract visitors who wanted a closer view of the beavers and other wildlife.

Gary Roisum, manager of Huntley Meadows Park, said he doesn't know for sure if the two events are related. The beavers could have found another habitat with better food, he said. But it's also possible that the beavers were scared off by the construction project, Roisum said.

With the beavers' disappearance, holes have developed in the dam, and the water level of the marsh has begun to sink for the first time since 1977, he said.

"The is the first time in 15 years that I have managed the park that I have seen such a dramatic natural drain-down," Roisum said.

The reduced amount of water in the park poses a threat to other animals, including the river otter, the pied-billed grebe, the yellow-crowned night heron, the American and least bitterns, and the Knight Rails, he said.

A consultant who has been advising the park authority on wetlands policy for two years recently suggested four options to deal with the problem. The first involves building a new dam, and the fourth involves patching up the current dam with sandbags.

None of those projects would be easy for the park authority to undertake, because of a budget crunch, Roisum said. A fifth option would be to do nothing and hope the beavers return.

Roisum said he had several calls from residents offering to restock Huntley Meadows Park with beavers they find on their own property. But that isn't likely to work, he said. The park's longtime beavers left for a reason, and new arrivals are likely to be just as dissatisfied with the habitat.

by CNB