South Dakota and its governor are having a horrible no good very bad week and they will do anything to change the subject away from shooting Cricket in the gravel pit.
Even discuss the previously taboo topic of saving beavers.
Might South Dakota beavers receive some protections?
CUSTER STATE PARK, S.D. (KELO) — Nancy Hilding saw her three petitions seeking various levels of restrictions against hunting and trapping beavers set aside by the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission on Thursday.
But one of the commissioners said something needs to change. Another wants the conversation to continue. And a third said she disagreed at least one of the changes taking effect statewide.
State law allows citizens to petition the commission for rule changes. The commission meets on a near-monthly schedule and it’s become rare for a meeting to not have at least one petition to consider. The commission went through four of them on Thursday.
Speaking for the Prairie Hills Audubon Society, Hilding, who’s from Black Hawk, suggested a three-year moratorium on hunting and trapping beavers in the Black Hills. She also called for scaling back the year-round season to five months, having hunters and trappers report the locations where they’ve taken beavers from public lands, and relocating beavers to new areas rather than killing them.
Wha-a-a-t? Stop killing beavers? It’s in our DNA. I know you are allowed to make suggestions but that’s a crazy one. Or maybe its not. Lets talk a little more.
The state Wildlife Division found that beaver caches were down 73% from 2011 to 2023. Commissioner Travis Bies said he recently went looking for beavers around his ranch in the Fairburn area of Custer County and was disappointed by how little sign he found.
“I think it’s time we do something,” Bies said.
He didn’t support the petitions from Hilding but, he added, “There’s a lot of good stuff in there we could put in a management plan of our own.”
For example, Bies said, he doesn’t agree with allowing 12-month trapping of beavers in his area — “I really do think we should shut the trapping down in the Black Hills for now” — and liked the idea of relocating them.
For commissioner Julie Bartling of Gregory, who’s from the center of South Dakota along the Missouri River, the statewide season concept caught her eye. She said there was severe flooding throughout South Dakota in spring 2019 and, in some places, beaver caches on federal land are still affecting repairs.
In the not so distant past. before governor’s were shooting puppies SD has actually been fairly smart about beavers for a good ;long time. Carol Johnson’s beaver research has lead the way for moments where fish and game actually wrapped trees to prevent beaver chewing so that they wouldn’t need to be killed.
I know its shocking. But the Dakotas have been a beaver island of better understanding for a while.
Commission chair Stephanie Rissler, who lives in Vermillion on the state’s east side about 400 miles from Fairburn, said she wanted to hear from people in western South Dakota. She said “a handful” have been in contact with her.
“I don’t know that these three petitions are the way to go,” Rissler said. But she thanked Hilding for bringing them forward and called for more conversation about whether more needs to be done.
“I just think we need to have some more dialogue about what we’re seeing,” Rissler said.
By all means. Talk about it some more if you need to. I understand why your state REALLY wants to change the subject at the moment.
