Peak Foliage

Peak Foliage
October on Preston Pond

Brief History of Preston Pond

Born from glaciers about 13,500 years ago, the original pond was only what is now the wider north end. Probably about 10,000 years ago, as the modern forest started to take root, beavers colonized the pond and expanded it (old dams are under the water surface).

With the arrival of Europeans in New York and coastal New England, a vigorous fur trade grew in the 17th Century. Beavers are particularly vulnerable to trapping since they are easy to find and they were wiped out by the 18th Century. With no beavers to maintain the dams, Preston Pond drained and appears on 18th and 19th Century maps as only the smaller original glacial north end.


Reintroduction in the 1920's and 1930's led to beavers recolonizing Preston Pond. By chance, they arrived the same year my grandfather bought the property in 1946. Ever since then, beavers have lived unmolested (by humans) on Preston Pond - until February 2016. They have never caused flooding problems or over-eaten the surrounding forest stand to the point that they abandoned the pond. Their population has doubtlessly had its ups and downs, but they have managed their affairs here for the last 70 years as beavers did for millions of years: on their own, despite some of their top predators having been exterminated by humans.

[In talking to members of our family, there have been two brief intervals in the past when the beavers were absent: First, in '71/'72 (I was preoccupied with high school, track and cross-country so didn't notice or recall and the reason is unknown) and second in '83/'84 after a major dam break. At least one adult was killed in the outwash. I was living in NYC at the time and a new father and again, had forgotten that as well].





Wednesday, September 27, 2017

con·ser·va·tion  ˌkänsərˈvāSH(ə)n/      noun

  1. the action of conserving something, in particular.
    • preservation, protection, or restoration of the natural environment, natural ecosystems, vegetation, and wildlife.
    • the act of conserving; prevention of injury, decay, waste, or loss

Situation

·         Select Board (SB) approved first documented beaver trapping on Preston Pond*. 12/14/15:
·         Traps in Preston Pond February 9 – February 12, 2016*2
·         Preston Pond beaver colony exterminated. *3

·         Bolton Conservation Commission (CC) added a restriction on unnecessary (sport) trapping to the draft PPCA (Town Forest) Management Plan by a 5:1 vote*4 May, 2016
·    SB removes CC’s recreational trapping restriction and rewrites to allow all trapping pending SB permission. SB wiil voting to approve amended plan, Tuesday, October 3, 2017

What you can do:

·        Write the Select Board prior to Tues evening October 3.
·        Alert your neighbors, especially those who live near and/or use the PPCA

Whether you support trapping in general or not, if you can agree that putting family pets at risk with traps along popular hiking trails or risking our last small beaver colony is ill-advised, support the Bolton Conservation Commission’s management plan trapping provisions:

“Trapping: Trapping is restricted in the PPCA to protect natural habitats and for the public safety of other users in line with the limitations of the conservation easement. Trapping shall only occur to protect natural habitats or to protect public health or safety, as determined by the BSB with consideration of input from the BCC. …” 
Contact the Select Board through Town Clerk Amy Grover: clerkbolton@gmavt.net to send written statement. For more information or questions, reply to this email or contact Rob Mullen: rob@robmullen.com

Background
  • The CC plan allowed trapping in the PPCA only for management/safety. No effect elsewhere.
  • The PPCA is 403 acres. Bolton has 29,800 acres, most freely available to trappers.
  • The 403-acre PPCA is undoubtedly the most frequented natural public space in Bolton, if not Chittenden County; the trails around Preston Pond and Libbys Lookout are some of the most popular day hikes in Vermont.
  • The Select Board is reserving the power to allow:
    • Leghold and killing traps*5 30 yards from trails.
    • Drowning trap sets in the ponds for the remaining Upper Pond beavers and any otters, mink, etc.
  • Bolton has 1,200 residents and two (2) licensed trappers (Fish & Wildlife Dept.)
  • There is no history/tradition of trapping in the PPCA. Historic use has been cited as a reason to allow trapping in the PPCA. Beavers were exterminated in VT by the fur trade even before Ethan and Ira Allen arrived. Reintroduced in the 1920’s and ‘30’s, recolonizing beavers arrived at Preston Pond in 1946. The PPCA property was wholly owned by Jerry R. Mullen from 1946 to 1989. There was no trapping. From 1990 to 2003, a developer owned it and while he reports giving verbal permission to one Bolton resident to trap, the VT Fish & Wildlife Department reports that there were no licensed trappers in Bolton at that time and it is not known if any trapping occurred. From the time the property was acquired by the town of Bolton in 2003, to the first trapping application in November 2015, there was no trapping in the PPCA. The trapper in 2016, may have been the first person to set beaver traps in Preston Pond since the 1700’s; certainly, the first legal ones.
  • Whatever one thinks of trapping, it is a legal pursuit and where it poses no realistic hazard or impact on other residents, it is the SB’s right to leave it be.  However, there is good reason to believe (and evidence in the shrinking Preston Pond – unmaintained, the main dam is a sieve and the lower part of Preston Pond, a mud puddle), it is not appropriate within the relatively small and well-used PPCA (which we may have to rename the Preston Puddle Conservation Area).
* At the 12/14/15 SB meeting, despite touting trapping as an excellent “wildlife management tool,” when asked, the SB acknowledged that there was no wildlife management problem. The SB promised trapping would be “sustainable” but when asked, admitted to having no idea of colony populations in either pond. When it was pointed out that there were few beavers in Preston Pond and that the colony was vulnerable, the information was ignored.

*2 Trapping on Upper Pond – separate colony- Feb.9-Feb. 15.  Only one juvenile killed. Colony weak but still there.

*3 First absence of beavers in Preston Pond in at least 30 years. Colony established in 1946 with only one or two short absences since then. Beavers in constant residence since mid-1980’s.

*4 The night of the vote, one CC member was absent and supported the measure by letter so the vote of members present was 4-1 but support of the restriction was 5-1. The one opposed was (and is) a full-time professional lobbyist in Montpelier for, among other things, trapping.

*5 If you are familiar with leghold traps, a captured dog can be released fairly easily if you aren’t bitten by a panicked animal. Injuries are usually minor, (for the dog), if released soon, though substantial veterinarian bills are possible. However, the bottom line is that your pet will very likely survive – if you are present.
Not so likely with Conibear body-gripping kill traps. Few if any trappers are likely use such traps near trails, but we have had conflicting comments on this issue. The fact that the SB insists on keeping such an option open is all by itself reason to trust the CC on this issue. 


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