The owners of a deserted golf course in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, say they will take care of a beaver problem that's causing trees to topple and concerning residents who live near the course.
"We are walking into what I call the danger zone," Brandon Simering, a trapper for District Wildlife Solutions, told News4's crew while leading a tour of the damage along the stream in the Marlton Community.
"They're just going to town," Simering said.
Last month, News4 spoke with a homeowner who was concerned about all the trees that started falling in and around her yard.
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"I didn't know what it was and I put it on NextDoor, and they said it's beavers," Dominque Stovall said.
The issue started about two years ago, after the Marlton Golf Course that winds through the community was left abandoned.
"They starting cutting trees and started looking like they might fall toward our houses and stuff, and that became kind of a dangerous situation. I had to go down and finish off a couple of trees to make sure they went the right direction myself and everything," resident Kenneth Cooper said.
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"It came as a surprise that they had done as much damage," said Van Jones, part owner of the Marlton Golf Course.
Jones said he hired District Wildlife Solutions to take care of the issue after seeing News4's story.
"I received a phone call from someone who saw the story ran on your television station and they said, 'You may want to look at this,'" Jones said.
Jones said he has been a part owner of the course since 2015. He says after bumps in the road, he and his partners are moving forward with restoring the course.
"Watch what we do moving forward, and I think they'll be happy," Jones said.
"I do think this has been going on for a long time," Simering said.
At least one area of the stream is now standing water and much wider because of the dams the beavers have built, Simering said.
"There shouldn't be hardly any water back here. It should just be a little flowing stream, maybe about a three-, four-foot-wide stream that you should be able to see clear as day through," Simering said.
The trappers are expecting the work to clean up the dams and get the stream flowing again to take about two to four weeks, and they'll likely need to come back on a weekly basis to maintain the stream.
"I'm just glad they are taking care of it now," Cooper said.
Jones says the complete restoration of the golf course could take the next five years.
A spokesperson for County Executive Angela Alsobrooks' office says the county has issued fines to the owners in an effort to have the grounds and wildlife maintained.
