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GREENSBORO — Beavers are wreaking havoc with city government’s restoration efforts along North Buffalo Creek, gnawing down recently planted trees in Latham Park to help build a nearby dam.

The toothy, paddle-tailed creatures with webbed rear feet are an increasing problem across the state, particularly in urban areas where their stick-built dams and lodges can cause flooding, erosion and collateral damage to bridges, roads and other man-made structures.

City officials were planning to hire a professional trapper Friday to snare the critters, until they learned that state law prohibits beaver relocation — virtually assuring the animals would have to be killed.

“We were told, 'Let’s explore other options so we don’t have to kill the beavers,’ ” said David Phlegar, city storm-water manager. “So we’ll address it Monday. Hopefully, they (the beavers) won’t take down any more trees over the weekend.”

The animals, North America’s largest species of rodent, already caused significant damage west of North Elm Street along both sides of the relatively small, shallow creek.

An unknown number of beavers are living nearby, building a dam east of North Elm Street near a protected natural area just north of Moses Cone Hospital, Phlegar said.

“They’ve taken out a half-dozen trees that were 10 or 12 years old,” Phlegar said. “It’s a shame to lose so many of the trees that we planted there.”

Advocates for wildlife preservation would be aghast, but the beavers are banned from being trapped live and relocated — because the population has rebounded so dramatically from near extinction in the late 19th century.

Now beavers reside in virtually all 100 counties in numbers so high that the state permits an extended trapping season from November through March. Specially licensed professional trappers can take the animals year-round in places where they are causing damage.

“State law does state you can’t relocate (beavers),” state wildlife biologist George Strader said. “They are not a threatened or endangered species, by any means.”

Trappers snare the burly creatures that weigh an average of about 35 pounds, often using a box-shaped trap with a spring trigger set underwater so the swimming animal trips the lever head-first. The trap’s collapsing arms kill instantly by snapping at the neck with a vise-like grip.

Trapping is an age-old occupation that was one of America’s major industries in its frontier days. But America in the 21st century is a less visceral place, where many people have a soft spot in their hearts for wildlife and advocate peaceful coexistence.

Beaver problems are not new to Greensboro, although this is the first time the hard-working rodents have infiltrated Latham Park, Phlegar said.

The city battled previous beaver invasions along parts of South Buffalo Creek and in the Twin Lakes area, he said. Administrators did so with the understanding that the beavers were being captured live and released somewhere in the eastern part of the state.

But they recently heard relocation was no longer allowed and confirmed it Friday as they prepared to face the latest beaver threat, Phlegar said.

Greensboro veterinarian Rodger Kleisch was among the first to spot the tree damage this week and spread the word about it.

“They were just all chewed up,” he said of trees the beavers have taken down.

In days gone by, beavers might have had a tough time building a dam that could survive long in North Buffalo. The city sought to move stormwater through neighborhood creeks as fast as possible by denuding banks of vegetation and turning the streams into straight-ahead conduits unfriendly to wildlife.

But in more recent years, Greensboro has taken the opposite path by planting a variety of trees and other native plants next to the creeks. They form a natural buffer to filter pollutants from stormwater before it enters streams that are now allowed to take more meandering courses.

The overall effort created habitat so authentic and inviting, it has attracted beavers that are harvesting the city’s newly planted trees — intended to make the setting even more naturally alluring.

“I think there’s some irony in that,” Kleisch said.

Beavers are most active in the fall and winter, said Strader, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission biologist for the northern Piedmont.

Five to seven beavers make up each colony, capable of working together to build dams that can create ponds inundating anywhere from one to 100 acres.

They can be great pests in the wrong area, but they also build dams that greatly improve water quality in more rural settings, Strader said.

“In the right place,” he said, “they can create wetland habitat for a lot of other animal and plant communities.”

Contact Taft Wireback at 373-7100 or taft.wireback@news-record.com