A young family has moved into the Fraser Heights area of North Surrey and has been causing problems for the city parks department.
With the ongoing Highway 1 construction, culverts beneath the highway have been repaired, allowing for the migration of various fish and wildlife – including a family of beavers that has recently taken up residence in a drainage pond near 104 Avenue and Fraser Glen Drive.
And according to Carrie Baron, environmental planner for the City of Surrey, the new tenants have been causing headaches at city hall by jamming a nearby creek with sticks and causing it to flood surrounding fields.
"We're well aware of the beavers at Fraser Glen," said Baron. "We are planning to put in a new outlet control structure that the beavers are unable to block."
Since the city has a no-kill policy when it comes to beavers, Baron said the idea is to build a structure that the beavers are unable to block, allowing the creek to run freely, while at the same time providing a safe habitat for the beavers to live in.
City parks workers have also been installing wire fencing on tree trunks around the pond to protect them, as many have been chewed down.
Although relocation of the beavers is an option, Baron said, new beavers would only move in, causing the same issues again.
The plan at this point is to bring the water levels down in the summer to repair the culvert and then allow the water to come back into the drainage pond.
"There's not much we can do at this point until the summer because we get too much rain, but in the summer we'll get it fixed," said Baron. "We're trying to work with nature."
The City of Surrey's original 1993 corporate emblem was a beaver, which was replaced by stylized highrises in recent years. The beaver remains on the city's coat of arms.