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Viewpoints: Letters / Opinions

Beaver Laws

By Nicole Perry

 

January 05, 2015
Monday PM


I stumbled on Dave Kiffer's column about strange laws particularly the one in Michigan that fined beavers for building dams without a permit.

That was a blessing because there was ALMOST an organized effort to do just that a couple of months ago and we didn't know about the law or the fines.

It started when the dam on O'Neal Lake mysteriously blew out just a few years after the state wanted to drain the lake anyway. Putting suspicions aside, a group of us, having had no success getting the state to put the dam back, decided we sould start our own effort -- the BBB (Bliss Beaver Brigade).

The dam was located in Bliss Township and a group of volunteers thought they could save the fish kill caused by the dam blowing out by sandbagging -- making a levee to shore up the water until the dam could get repaired. We also subscribed to the idea of SSS (shovel, sandbag and shut up) because we figured the state might not like us doing their work especially when they didn't want it done. The plan was to make like beavers and each of us sneak in under darkness and drop one sandbag. An attorney talked us out of it saying we could be charged with trespassing. Even he didn't know about the beaver law.

We're pressuring the state instead to restore our dam. Look it up under O'Neal Lake Dam on the internet. http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MIDNR/bulletins/ce8ece

Nicole Perry
Bliss Township, Emmet County, Michigan

Received January 04, 2015 - Published January 05, 2015

Related Column:

Some New Laws of Distraction By DAVE KIFFER - Recently, the Ketchikan city government weeded out some old laws that it hadn’t enforced in a coon’s age and had no intention of enforcing in a future coon’s age. - More...
SitNews - Monday PM - December 08, 2014

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