Went back in to the forestry contract today, and this ^^is what the notch I started looked like at the big dam. Note in top left side of notch, there is the end of a log. That log is about 20' long and shaped perfectly to the dam, or more likely the dam built behind the log, curves and all. I had to dig that one out, get it pried out of the way with my fork, then just float it about three feet to the left (East). It made a nice seat for my smoke breaks! Too many rocks around it to use the chainsaw. Note the water height in the notch in relation to the top of the dam.
This ^^ is after I opened it up, and I'm standing on the trail/ road when I took the picture. Compare the water height in the notch to the pic above. It's like the water rises in the notch as the pressure/ volume increases.
This ^^ is looking downstream from the dam. Note the ramps somebody made to span the washout in the road. I moved them so they wouldn't wash away. Real well built, treated 2x6 lumber frame and metal handles. Forester had no idea who put them there. They should work well once the water recedes. Back to the smaller dam.
This ^^ is the smaller pond, where the big piece of floating bog parked itself on top of the 36" culvert. I had to locate the culvert by probing with the handle on my beaver fork, until I heard it hit the culvert, or what I thought was the culvert. My first attempt was a slight miss to the left, and the false sounding was part of the rip rap just to the East of the culvert. Didn't matter anyway, because I had to dig it all out to get the pipe open and the water flowing. The culvert was down about 30" in that loon poop/ sticks, and the floating bog had anchored itself on a stump I think. I couldn't move it at all, and for the most part, it was quite "loose" on the surface. If you don't know what that is growing on the top of that bog piece, it's "begger Lice/ stick tights/ poke you all day, and I had to get it all over my shirt! Took five minutes when I was done to scrape the damn things off my shirt with my pocket knife. The two sticks standing up are about a foot out from the culvert end, and work as a guide to where I need to dig. Once I got the top of the culvert clean off I had a solid place to stand and just kept raking that loon poop and wads of grass out. Finally got a spot in front of the culvert dug out about 5' deep then started poking a long pole , at an angle, into the culvert mouth. I felt the pole go through and it started pulling water. A little more raking and she busted open and started pulling all that loon poop and small sticks rather briskly. I just stood in the water and raked the loose stuff away from the sides of the floating bog, to create a channel coming from both directions. Wasn't long and I was standing on a sand bottom. Glad that one is done, and it will take a hoe in there to move the rest of that floating bog, but the water may move a great deal more of it too, because it really was quite loose in construction.
This ^^ is what it looked like when I left. Look at the corners of the culvert to get an idea of how much the culvert is drawing. If the bog stays in place it should drain well.
This ^^ is the downstream side of the culvert, and all that stuff out in the water is what was in the culvert and washed out. That long stick partially sticking out of the water is still half way in the culvert, and there were several more just like it all bound together with wads of grass.
This ^^ is what it looked like once I cleaned out the culvert contents to give it a clean tailpiece or free flow.
Both of these ponds are currently connected, but originally had their own water supply, via run off creeks. They both also flow to the same place, a series of beaver ponds. The first pond is roughly twice the size of the large one pictured here, then into a second a little smaller, then into a third, which is roughly an acre in size. Then the outlet stream flows almost straight north to a series of man made CC ditches, like several of those farther up in this post. This series of ditches flow predominantly SW to the Snake River, but in west, then south, then west ,then south, then SW to the river. Multiple dams, like in the high 40's, just in the ditches. To the West of this area I just trapped is also a series of ponds, that are also connected, have their own dams, and flow to the West into the same series of ditches. The Forestry wants to get the water out of here, and have me trap the beaver, to recover some of the timber. The Forestry is responsible for "reasonable access" for timber sales sites, and the county is responsible for maintenance of the ditches. Sooooo, if I get them together, to get a winter contract, this should be a winters trapping effort on snowmobile, then a bunch of canoeing in the spring to remove the dams in the ditches. Stay tuned!
While I was in there today at the smaller of the two ponds, I caught the lady of the house. Since I tore her dam out, and me being the gentleman I am, I offered her a ride out.
She made seven out of the two ponds. Five out of the big pond and just two out of the small pond. The interesting thing about that, is that the two biggest beaver came out of the little pond, and she had nursed pups this last spring, but there was no evidence of them being there. No small tracks in the fresh mud on the dam, no small teeth marks on chewed sticks, none trapped there. The big pond had two adults and three pups. Fresh wolf tracks in the mud, on the road, each time I was in there.
