Beaver dam washes out Dysart roads
Those industrious beavers.
Dysart’s Public Works Department received reports of a beaver dam break on Boughner Road on April 12 at 3 p.m. Staff visited the site, confirmed the incident, and witnessed water over-topping the road.
The water washed the culvert downstream and took out as much as 15 meters of road. The water impacted two other roads downstream.
Harburn Road, which is the jurisdiction of Haliburton County, was closed that evening due to over-topping and reopened April 15.
Harmony Road, which is Dysart municipal jurisdiction, was closed as a precautionary measure due to overtopping and reopened the following morning when the water receded.
A price tag to complete the repairs is unknown, but the 2024 municipal operating budget earmarked $79,829 for emergency washout repairs.
Dave Coulter, the township’s operation’s manager, told council when it met April 23 that Harmony Road required minor repairs which have been completed.
“We had a crew out there and we brought up one piece of pipe that we could get back in place so we can make it accessible for people,” Coulter said.
“Are we waiting on a bigger pipe there?” Mayor Murray Fearrey said.
“We’re bringing the pipes back up,” Coulter said. “Basically, they were washed down into the creek bed.”
“They weren’t big enough,” Fearrey said. “Why wouldn’t we put a bigger one in?”
Coulter said Rob Cameron, the township’s public works director, assessed the situation and determined the road would benefit from being higher.
Boughner Road culvert will be reinstalled and the road will be built up to an elevation higher than the adjacent beaver dam in order to mitigate road over-topping.
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James Matthews, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Haliburton County Echo
