Tearing down a beaver dam is ridden with downfalls. You must first check with the legality of tearing a dam down. Tearing down a beaver dam can cause damage; it can be dangerous to the person(s) tearing it down.

Once it has been approved as legal and that the beavers have abandoned the dam, then you can set about tearing it down. Before doing so there are things to consider. Removing the damn rapidly can create a rapid enough flow to destroy other dams that are located downstream, this in turn can cause erosion which is negative to the environment. In the winter the removal of a dam could annihilate a number of species that live in the frozen ponds to survive the Ohio winter.

Blasting dams is relatively dangerous. One must be a Dayton specialist. There are also legal considerations to attend to. A backhoe has 2 problems, the first being that the backhoe may not be able to reach the dam safely. Secondly, this is a form of rapid removal again the possibility of downstream dam destruction. Hand removal is slower but it is safer. To do this you will need a shovel and a rake. You will cut 6-inch notches that will slowly release the water. With your shovel and rake you will remove parts of the Ohio dam. This will have to be done everyday until the dam has come down.

Extra care needs to be taken if you are removing Dayton dams from a culvert. All measures must be taken to not remove a dam on the downstream side. This can cause a failure of the dam of catastrophic proportions. The water flow can be so fast it can lead to a loss of life.

What makes a culvert so dangerous is the fact that it could lay under sidewalks, sewers ora drain or channel crossing. Using grappling hooks is much safer than entering a culvert and attempting to dismount by hand. If the primary problem is water height, use a telephone poll attached to a backhoe and ram the dam. Since culverts are so dangerous be sure that any method you might employ is done so at a safe distance.

Removing a Dayton beaver dam can be done however; there are so many conditions to take into consideration. From legalities to drowning, it takes much more to take a dam down than the Ohio beaver to have put it up.

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