Beavers and bikers clash at Tyler park

TYLER, TX (KLTV) - A family of beavers is causing some problems at Lindsey Park in Tyler.

Over the past several years, the City of Tyler has built more and more mountain bike trails at the park. That's when they uncovered a substantial beaver population. Now, local bicyclists and walkers who use those trails are running into trouble as the beavers' dams grow larger by the night.

"I have seen snakes and birds and deer, never seen a beaver," Will Harvey, who frequents the park, said.

Harvey has been playing disc golf every week for years at Lindsey Park and about four months ago, he heard about the beavers.

"A couple of guys say that they've heard of them. I don't know if anybody has actually eye-witnessed a beaver."

That's around the time the City of Tyler got a call from the Tyler Bicycle Club.

"Because of the dams that they're building, some of that water is backing up onto the mountain bike trails," Stephanie Rollings with the City of Tyler said.

That causes standing water in the paths of walkers and bikers.

"The idea is to have wildlife habitat, and so we're sensitive to that, and we just want to make sure that as we move forward, you know, we're doing the right thing," Rollings explained.

Inspections are underway, but there are just three options. They are to kill the beavers, or relocate them, which Rollings said they don't want to do, or build with them.

Tanya Thibodeux rehabilitates beavers through the Animal Rehab Center.

"The beaver father is the best father I've ever seen. Better than most humans," Thibodeux said.

That's why she explained relocating them would be tough.

"They have to be trapped as a family unit. They are monogamous. They are a family unit. Mom, dad, babies," she said.

Thibodeux said beavers are often considered a nuisance.

"What we can't remember is how important they are to the ecosystem," she explained.

They are so important that many people now call Tanya to get their own beaver families on their land.

"We could just go out and make sure that we're maintaining their dams and that they're not backing up water with their dams in terms of making them larger," Rollings said considering a solution.

Thibodeux said she had run into this type of situation before. She does not trap beavers, she just rehabilitates them, but sees this often.

"I haven't read of a case that couldn't be fixed by good architecture," she said.

It appears we need to learn a little something from the beavers about how to build.

The city is working with a wildlife biologist and Texas Parks and Wildlife to come up with a solution. They have not decided what they will do at this time.

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