Is The Score Even?

On a beautiful May evening last year, the beaver dam in Adamant village broke open letting a wall of water pour through the town. It destroyed the road and flooded the basement of a woman’s house, ruining her furnace.

There are two ponds, one on each side of the crossroads that is the center of the village of Adamant. On the south is Sodom Pond, a lake at the end of its life. Silt has built up until it is only about six feet deep. Some day in the not-too-distant future, it will be swampy, dry land. On the north side of the village is the Upper Pond, a wide expanse of water, for the most part, only a foot or two deep. It’s a pond at the beginning of its life. It used to be wetland, until the beaver built their dam. Even though it’s only a few feet deep, the water spreads out over about thirty-five acres. That means the beaver dam is holding back an enormous amount of water. An estimated two million gallons rushed through the middle of town when the dam broke. The town road crew worked long hours to put the road back together, but the beaver worked even harder to rebuild their dam. For a few days they were all working side by side. There was talk about how the beaver should all be killed, even though more beaver would certainly move in to take their place. The people in the Agency of Natural Resources put two beaver baffles in the dam to keep the beaver from raising it as high as it had been before. Then at the end of August this year, Irene dumped a huge amount of water on Vermont, causing terrible floods and washed-out roads. But not in Adamant. The Upper Pond got very full. Water poured over the beaver dam. Still, the dam held. Adamant was wet, but undamaged. Isn’t the score even now? Last year, the beaver caused damage to Adamant, but this year, their dam held back the water and protected Adamant. I think it’s one for one.