LEYDEN — The town expects less flooding and water pooling to occur after the installation of a “pond leveler” device in a beaver pond, located in the wetlands adjacent to West Leyden Road, a solution that ultimately saves the beavers and their dam.

The beaver dam in the wetlands surrounding West Leyden Road has created a flooding problem for more than a year, according to Selectboard Chair Katherine DiMatteo. Water pooling occurs consistently on the roadway, creating a hazard for motorists, occasionally preventing through traffic and causing damage to the road’s surface.

“West Leyden Road is really important,” DiMatteo said, addressing how residents would get to the center of town in the event of flooding. “If that flooded, everyone west of the flood would have to go through Colrain.”

Although the beaver dam is one source of the water issues on West Leyden Road, DiMatteo acknowledged that the road being located in the middle of wetlands is the main reason for water problems.

“That area of town has historically been a problem in terms of trying to keep the water from being on the road,” she said. “It’s an important area environmentally for biodiversity and as a wetland, but the problem is the road. The road shouldn’t be where it is; it’s just really a bad location.”

To help curb the problem, a pond leveler device was installed by Beaver Solutions LLC of Southampton on May 21 for about $2,150. The pond leveler works by lowering the beaver pond’s water level to stop water from pooling on West Leyden Road. A pipe is installed underneath the beaver dam, sending the water from the overflowed pond on one side of the dam to the other side, lowering water levels to a manageable depth. The inlet of the pipe on the side of the beaver pond that overflows is fenced off, so the beavers are not affected by the pipe.

Beaver Solutions founder and owner Michael Callahan was contacted by the Leyden Highway Department, which had been addressing water flow issues on West Leyden Road using multiple methods such as digging trenches and using logs to block water.

“A beaver dam downstream of West Leyden Road had backed up water and it was a threat to the road because the roadbed was getting saturated and [the town was] worried about water settling,” Callahan said of Leyden’s situation.

Callahan emphasized that using flow regulation devices such as pond levelers or culvert protectors are always preferred to trapping beavers, as they are environmentally friendly and do not harm the beavers or the wildlife in beaver ponds.

Callahan formed Beaver Solutions in 2000 to develop effective solutions to beaver and human conflicts that are environmentally friendly and help avoid beaver trapping, emphasizing that the ponds created by beaver dams are critical to creating ecosystems for many different kinds of wildlife. According to Callahan, beaver ponds are equivalent to rainforests and coral reefs in the amount of biodiversity they support, making beavers a “keystone species” due to the number of creatures that rely on beaver ponds for habitats. Callahan explained that in the 1700s, beavers were nearly wiped out in Massachusetts and New England due to extensive trapping and killing to make room for farmland and to collect beaver hides, but they were reintroduced to Massachusetts in the 1930s.

“There are tons of benefits to having these animals around, but you can’t have a house flooded or a road flooded,” Callahan said. “That’s where I find this so rewarding, is finding that balance where we can keep them around, maximize the good things that they do and eliminate the negative things.”

According to Callahan, Beaver Solutions partnered with the town of Billerica in the spring of 2019 to conduct a study examining how much money is saved through the installation of flow regulation devices. The study examined 55 beaver sites in Billerica, 43 of which were managed by flow devices and 12 of which were managed by trapping. The study found that the average annual cost for a single site managed by trapping is $409 per year while a single site managed by a flow device costs an average of $225 per year.

Looking forward, Leyden is exploring options for a long-term solution to the water flow issues on West Leyden Road.

“We would love to get a long-term solution,” DiMatteo said,” which would be changing the road or raising the road in such a way that the bog can return to its natural state, and all the creatures that want to and need to live in a bog can do so without us coming in periodically.”