Abstract
The use of forest roads as foundations for dam construction by beavers is a recurrent problem in the management of forest road networks. In order to limit the damage to forest roads, our goal was to calculate the probability of beaver dam installation on culverts, according to surrounding habitat parameters, which could allow for improvement in the spatial design of new roads that minimise conflicts with beavers. Comparisons of culverts with (n = 77) and without (n = 51) dams in northwestern Quebec showed that catchment surface, cumulate length of all local streams within a 2-km radius, and road embankment height had a negative effect on the probability of dam construction on culverts, while flow level and culvert diameter ratio had a positive effect. Nevertheless, predicted probabilities of dam construction on culverts generally exceeded 50%, even on sites that were less favourable to beavers. We suggest that it would be more reasonable to take their probable subsequent presence into account at the earliest steps of road conception. Installing mitigation measures such as pre-dams during road construction would probably reduce the occurrence of conflicts with beavers and thus reduce the maintenance costs of forest roads.
Highlights
In Canada, transportation of wood between forests and mills is mainly overland, which requires the construction and maintenance of an important road network
The model that was based upon anthropogenic factors has explanatory power, yet assumptions on dietary variables and the local abundances of beaver dams were not supported by the model selection process
We suggest that the negative relationship that was obtained with road embankments may not be linked to the avoidance of sites allowing the creation of larger ponds, but rather to sites with greater diameter culverts [6]
Summary
In Canada, transportation of wood between forests and mills is mainly overland, which requires the construction and maintenance of an important road network. Beavers frequently use roads as the foundations for dam construction, which is a recurrent problem in the management of forest road networks. Road embankments facilitate dam construction, because they prevent water flow and may seem attractive to beavers. When the culvert is blocked and water accumulates upstream, significant infiltration will occur, leading to destabilisation of roads, frequent flooding and even complete road erosion at the time of severe flooding [6]. This damage obviously represents significant road network maintenance costs, often at the expense of forest companies, in several Canadian provinces
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