Text 6051, 164 rader
Skriven 2013-10-24 08:55:00 av DAVE DRUM (1:261/1381)
     Kommentar till en text av NANCY BACKUS
Ärende: Beaver Tails
====================
-=> NANCY BACKUS wrote to DAVE DRUM <=-

 -=> Quoting Dave Drum to Jim Weller on 10-12-13  07:48 <=-

 JW> Well ... order a beaver tail or a bear paw in most places and you
 JW> get a fritter/doughnut thing. But in Yellowknife you'll get the real
 JW> deal.

 DD> Beavers are making a small comeback in the Great American Outback.
 DD> But, Mr. Farmer and Mr. Real Estate Developer are doing their level
 DD> best to make sure that never gets a real hold on things.  Bv(=

 NB> Well, it's one thing to have a new beaver lake show up in the middle of
 NB> the woods, and yet another to have one be in the middle of your
 NB> crops... or flooding out those new homes...  ;)   Camp owners at Boyd
 NB> Pond (especially the ones with their camps right close to the
 NB> shoreline) were none too happy with the enterprising busy beavers that
 NB> dammed up the outlet stream and the pond level rose significantly.
 NB> That dam got blown out (with a legal permit)... and I'd not be
 NB> surprised if some of those beavers became (probably surruptitiously)
 NB> dinner... keeping nature in balance...  ;)

Or pissing off the Department of Natural Resources ....

This is one of those "too good to be true" things that really did happen as
certified by Snopes.

This is a copy of an actual letter sent to Ryan DeVries, from the Michigan
Department of Environmental Quality, State of Michigan. Wait till you read this
guy's response - but read the entire letter before you get to the response.

Mr. Ryan DeVries
2088 Dagget
Pierson, MI 49339
SUBJECT: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20;

Site Location: Montcalm County

Dear Mr. DeVries:

It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that
there has been recent unauthorized activity on the above referenced parcel of
property. You have been certified as the legal landowner and/or contractor who
did the following unauthorized activity:

Construction and maintenance of two wood debris dams across the outlet stream
of Spring Pond.

A permit must be issued prior to the start of this type of activity. A review
of the Department's files shows that no permits have been issued.

Therefore, the Department has determined that this activity is in violation of
Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental
Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to
324.30113 of the Michigan Compiled Laws annotated.

The Department has been informed that one or both of the dams partially failed
during a recent rain event, causing debris and flooding at downstream
locations. We find that dams of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot
be permitted.

The Department therefore orders you to cease and desist all activities at this
location, and to restore the stream to a free-flow condition by removing all
wood and brush forming the dams from the stream channel. All restoration work
shall be completed no later than January 31, 2002.

Please notify this office when the restoration has been completed so that a
follow-up site inspection may be scheduled by our staff. Failure to comply with
this request or any further unauthorized activity on the site may result in
this case being referred for elevated enforcement action.

We anticipate and would appreciate your full cooperation in this matter. Please
feel free to contact me at this office if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
David L. Price
District Representative
Land and Water Management Division

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RESPONSE:
   
Dear Mr. Price,

Re: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20; Montcalm County

Reference your certified letter dated 12/17/2000 has been referred to me to
respond to. First of all, Mr. Ryan De Vries is not the legal landowner and/or
contractor at 2088 Dagget, Pierson, Michigan.

I am the legal owner and a couple of beavers are in the (State unauthorized)
process of constructing and maintaining two wood "debris" dams across the
outlet stream of my Spring Pond.

While I did not pay for, authorize, nor supervise their dam project, I think
they would be highly offended that you call their skillful use of natural
building materials "debris." I would like to challenge your department to
attempt to emulate their dam project any time and/or any place you choose. I
believe I can safely state there is no way you could ever match their dam
skills, their dam resourcefulness, their dam ingenuity, their dam persistence,
their dam determination and/or their dam work ethic.

As to your request, I do not think the beavers are aware that they must first
fill out a dam permit prior to the start of this type of dam activity. My first
dam question to you is: (1) Are you trying to discriminate against my Spring
Pond Beavers? or, (2) do you require all beavers throughout this State to
conform to said dam request?

If you are not discriminating against these particular beavers, through the
Freedom of Information Act I request completed copies of all those other
applicable beaver dam permits that have been issued. Perhaps we will see if
there really is a dam violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the
Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts
of 1994, being sections 324.3010,1 to 324.30113 of the Michigan Compiled Laws,
annotated. I have several concerns. My first concern is aren't the beavers
entitled to legal representation?

The Spring Pond Beavers are financially destitute and are unable to pay for
said representation - so the State will have to provide them with a lawyer.

The Department's dam concern that either one or both of the dams failed during
a recent rain event causing flooding is proof that this is a natural
occurrence, which the Department is required to protect. In other words, we
should leave the Spring Pond Beavers alone rather than harrass them and call
their dam names. If you want the stream "restored" to a dam free-flow condition
- please contact the beavers - but if you are going to arrest them they
obviously did not pay any attention to your dam letter (being unable to read
English).

In my humble (!) opinion, the Spring Pond Beavers have a right to build their
unauthorized dams as long as the sky is blue, the grass is green and water
flows downstream. They have more dam right than I do to live and enjoy Spring
Pond. If the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection lives
up to its name, it should protect the natural resources (Beavers) and the
environment (Beavers' Dams).

So, as far as the beavers and I are concerned, this dam case can be referred
for more elevated enforcement action right now. Why wait until 1/31/2002 The
Spring Pond Beavers may be under the dam ice then, and there will be no way for
you or your dam staff to contact/harass them then.

In conclusion, I would like to bring to your attention a real environmental
quality (health) problem in the area. It is the bears. Bears are actually
defecating in our woods. I definitely believe you should be persecuting the
defecating bears and leave the beavers alone.

If you are going to investigate the beaver dam, watch your step! (The bears are
not careful where they dump!)

Being unable to comply with your dam request, and being unable to contact you
on your answering machine, I am sending this response to your office via
another government organization - the USPS. Maybe, someday, it will get there.

Sincerely,
Stephen L. Tvedten
The University of Texas at: Austin
Office Community Relations/Accounting unit
P.O. Box 7367
Austin, TX 78713

... One man's poison ivy is another man's spinach. - George Ade
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