Beaver dam teeing off golf course officials in Saugus

SAUGUS – A small wooden bridge spans what is normally about a 20-foot wide portion of the Saugus River that flows between the second and third holes at Cedar Glen Golf Course in Saugus.But the river was almost at a standstill on a recent afternoon as it backed up into what now looks like a small pond, with water creeping up to just a few feet on either side of the gravel path that leads to the bridge.In the woods behind the second hole, what was normally a sprawling stretch of trees is now several feet deep with standing water. Geese and ducks have even taken to swimming in the newly formed pond.Burt Page runs Cedar Glen and said a recently built beaver dam about a half mile into the woods behind the second hole is wreaking havoc at the public nine-hole course and even caused him to shut down for three days last month.”We didn’t know it was there until we got flooded,” said Page, who leases the course. “It’s costing us money to be closed.”A short hike down an access road off of Water Street brings you to the dam, which is about 20-feet long and 3-feet high, and packed with countless logs and branches.Around the dam, trees are stripped clean of their bark.Course superintendent Matt Ellsworth said the flooding river is affecting holes 2 and 9, and if it continues to back up, hole 8 and some homes abutting the course will also start to flood.”I just wanted town officials to know because it’s going to affect our business,” said Ellsworth. “If that backs up, we can’t do any business and it hurts. It’s really the whole course. We have another couple areas that go over the water that are starting to overflow. It shuts us down, because we can’t have business coming through here. It’s too deep.”This is the first time Ellsworth has had to deal with beavers in his six years at Cedar Glen.”Two weeks ago we had that three-quarters of an inch of rain, and we couldn’t get over this road here,” said Ellsworth, pointing to the gravel path off of the second hole. “On the other side there’s a maintenance road ? and even that was flooded.”Public Health Director Frank Giacalone looked into the problem and said in order to take any action on the dam, it has be declared a public health issue, which it wasn’t.”That area is known and prone to flooding,” said Giacalone. “It has a very high water table. It’s a normal facet of that area. It’s a status quo right now because for us to deem that a public health emergency it has to be deemed such by the Conservation Commission. They didn’t deem it a public health emergency.”Giacalone said it’s illegal to take down a beaver dam, but noted the town does grant a 10-day permit to allow licensed trappers to do so. However, releasing the dam may cause even more issues downriver, he said.”They’re concerned about the Lynnfield side, if they release the dam, it will be similar to the Mother’s Day floods and cause a lot of flooding,” said Giacalone.Ellsworth, however, disagreed with Giacalone’s assessment, and said once summer comes, all of the standing water will be a haven for mosquitoes.”As you can see, this water is not moving and in about a month or two, it’s going to be a mosquito infested area, and you’re going to have a West Nile problem,” said Ellsworth.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].