The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) accused a property owner of building dams on his property without a permit. A DEQ district representative of the Land & Water Management Division, wrote the following letter:
The land owner was only too happy to oblige the DEQ. The only problem was that he had nothing to do with the dams. Had DEQ officials bothered to check, they would have realized that the dams were constructed by BEAVERS!!!The Department has been informed that one or both of the dams partially failed during a recent rain event, causing debris and flooding at downstream locations. We find that dams of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot be permitted. The Department therefore orders you to cease and desist all unauthorized activities at this location and to restore the stream to a free-flow condition by removing all the wood and brush forming the dams from the strewn channel."
-- National Center for Public Policy Research
