The purpose of the program is to assist ratepayers experiencing flooding problems of roads, fields, or other situations caused by beaver flooding from unoccupied crown land or ditches under the authority of Mackenzie County.
Procedure
As oulined in ASB013: Beaver Control, once a written complaint is received, arrangements are made with the Agricultural Fieldman to investigate. The Agricultural Fieldman will determine the most efficient method of removing the beaver dam(s). This will either be with excavation equipment or explosive blasting.
If a beaver dam located on privately owned land is causing or likely to cause damage to neighboring property, and the owner fails to undertake or authorize any action to prevent damage, Subsection 24 of the Wildlife Act – General Wildlife (Ministerial) Regulation shall apply. If there is a complaint received on a grazing reserve, it shall be treated as occupied crown land and the complainant will be dealt with as per the Beaver Control policy.
It is also the responsibility of the Mackenzie County to ensure that any culverts affected by beaver are cleaned.
The priority given to complaints shall be as follows:
- Road flooding
- Crop damage/Field flooding
- Any other considerations that cause undue hardships will be handled at the discretion of the Agricultural Fieldman.