Beavers in Wayne National Forest act like beavers anywhere else. They build dams.

This causes problems for York Township Trustee Jim Pancake who wants to reopen a road on township right-of-way in Minker's Run, near Hocking College. To re-open his road, Pancake will need to move a beaver dam surrounded by wetlands.

"I don't want to destroy wetlands," he said. "I just want to push the dam back 10 feet."

But this adjustment requires a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said Pam Hill, regulatory project manager at the Corps region headquarters in Huntington, W.Va.

"A permit is required for any addition or redeposition of dredged material that destroys wetlands," she said.

Hill visited the site Oct. 23 to determine if the waters on either side of the road qualified as wetlands. Upon deciding they did, she sent a letter to York Township Nov. 6, notifying them that a permit was necessary before any work begins on the road.

"When I went to the site again, there was no equipment, but it appeared a bulldozer had bulldozed the dam," she said. "That was 9 a.m. Nov. 7, so it must have been done on the 6th. I talked to him Nov. 10, and he said he'd stop work and apply for a permit."

Pancake said he was unaware he needed a permit for work done on his right-of-way. He and Marsha Wikle, ecosystem team leader at Wayne National Forest, toured the site together. There seemed to be no conflict at that time, he said.

"I described what we had to do, and she seemed all right with it," he said. "Trustees go by the Ohio Revised Code," he said. "I think they're stretching it some when they call it a wetland."

The revised code states trustees have authority to straighten roads or remove obstacles in the way, he said.

Pancake said he should receive a permit about 10 days after he applies because he does not plan to disturb more than one-third of an acre. Developing more land would require Pancake to create additional wetland in the area.

Even though the trustees own 33 feet of the road, their work interferes with federally protected waters.

"We (at the Corps) don't respect property boundaries," Hill said.

While Pancake stayed within his right-of-way, altering beaver dams lowers the water level in the forest's wetland, Wikle said.

Wikle estimated that the area contains more than 50 acres of wetlands and beaver dams play an important role in cleansing the water.

"After five years, beaver ponds are considered permanent wetlands," said Chad Kister, president of OU Campus Greens. Previous strip mining has made the water acidic, but the dams restore a neutral pH. This pH is necessary to maintain a balance for aquatic life.

But Pancake said safety factors are his top concern. Opening the road would ease transportation. Rescue vehicles and township residents would benefit from the opened route, he said.

The road through Minker's Run was closed about 10 years ago because of flooding, said Wikle.

"A trustee requested the road be closed because the beavers were so busy they couldn't keep water off the road," she said.

But Pancake says forest personnel closed the road illegally. The forest should have gone to the county commissioners, who would post the closure for public viewing and conduct a public hearing on the issue, he said. The Minker's Run road had no such hearing.

"Wayne had no right to close that road," he said.

Wikle said the closure was justified.

"The township asked us to close it because they couldn't maintain it. We didn't take the initiative. We didn't take the road away from them," she said.

Pancake said he was against closing the road a decade ago but will cooperate with the Corps.

"Beavers are a pest to us," he said. "We haven't bothered wetlands."