Dear Editor,
A very important fact was edited from my letter to the Mountain Times on Dec. 28 about Killington’s removal of beaver dams that the town residents should be made aware of.
It’s obvious the town and state have implemented this river management plan in the complete absence of knowledge about the river itself. These five dams are not the issue, yet they just assume they are. For example, the dam the town wants to remove west of the recreation field. Do the state and town understand the river itself is the issue, not the dams by the tree line? The primary river channel is blocked and grown in with vegetation, diverting it into at least seven small channels: which is precisely what controls water levels by the town fields, not the dams. (contrast to town and state speculation). It’s therefore obvious an in-field river inspection has never been performed, the likes of which would have pointed this out.
In fact, it’s not one dam as the permit states but two, in separate river channels. The permit doesn’t address crossing the river with heavy equipment used to access the second dam.
If you Google Earth River Road you will see the main river ends by town fields diverting into a number of very small channels.
John Keough,
Bridgewater
