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Norwood ratifies emergency installation of beaver‑flow device to protect sewer berm
Summary
The commission ratified an emergency certificate allowing DPW to install a beaver‑flow device at a culvert behind Home Market Foods, intended to prevent repeated culvert blockages and parking‑lot flooding.
The Norwood Conservation Commission ratified an emergency certificate on June 18 permitting installation of a beaver‑flow control device at a culvert on the Astor Avenue / Morgan Drive right-of-way behind Home Market Foods.
Carly (conservation planner) explained the culvert has been repeatedly blocked by beaver activity, raising pond levels and intermittently flooding a sewer‑pipe berm, a service road and adjacent parking areas. Public Works engaged a specialist, Beaver Solutions, to install a flow device (fitted pipe and caged outflow, sometimes called a baffler or beaver deceiver) designed to prevent beavers from sensing and blocking flow. DPW completed the installation on Monday under an emergency certificate that the conservation agent signed; the certificate requires the commission to ratify the work.
Photos shown at the meeting depicted the fenced intake and outflow cage and DPW and contractor staff working in the pond. Commission members described the approach as a more long‑term and nonlethal solution than repeated trapping and noted it may be useful in other locations. No specific cost was presented at the meeting; staff said they would check and report costs to the commission.
The commission ratified the emergency certificate and asked staff to document the installation and monitor the site for effectiveness. Staff said the device was installed by Public Works and that the installation will be monitored to determine whether the approach should be used at additional sites.
