Big news afoot in Oregon. Even my cousin is sending me alerts.
Beaver bill impacts on Oregon vary depending on area
House Bill 3464, affectionately known as the Beaver Believer Bill, is on Gov. Tina Kotek’s desk and will take effect upon her signature. Watchers of the bill say that action by the governor is expected soon.
The bill, passed by the Legislature in June, provides increased protections for beavers on private property by shifting their management from agricultural regulators to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Opponents of the bill, however, say beaver dams are destructive to agricultural areas and that removing them from private property protects valuable crops.
Whooo hoo! Waiting for the beaver bill! You might remember that in Oregon beavers are classified both as a fur bearer, and as a “predator”. Which means on private lands they can be killed without even a permit,
A critical component of HB 3464 is that it requires landowners to get a permit from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife before killing a beaver or beaver family under certain conditions.
“In doing so it opens the door to a possible conversation between landowners and ODFW staff on possible non-lethal coexistence methods before resorting to lethal measures,” said Sristi Kamal, deputy director for the Western Environmental Law Center.
To say this has been a long time a coming is to vastly underrate how long people have been working towards this goal. The very first State of the Beaver Conference I attended folks were frustrated by the compromise of allowing dual status and felt that it been cop-out by ODFW. That was 2009. The issue has been through several rounds of negotiation since then with them always being a hair away from protecting our heroes at the last minute. Now the bill will make it real.
Across the state, beavers can play an important role in maintaining ecosystem health, scientists say. Their dams create wetlands and improve the health of riparian habitats, they also mitigate the impacts of drought and make ecosystems more resilient in the face of wildfire.
“Beavers create and maintain wetlands, wet meadows, and ponds which are natural fire breaks. These areas provide refuge for livestock and wildlife during fires and habitat post-fire,” said Kamal.
According to Kamal, beaver habitats are more stable and less sensitive to short-term climate variability because they contain reservoirs of surface and groundwater that buffer habitats from drought. They also create conditions for groundwater recharge to occur during flooding.
“Central Oregon is rich in streams and rivers,” said Kamal. “When these rivers and streams are connected to their floodplains it improves their water quality and quantity, supports species conservation such as salmon, and bolsters carbon sequestration.”
Beavers mainly exist in areas of broadleaf riparian vegetation, including places where willow, alder and aspen trees are found.
The Ochoco National Forest is one area historically occupied by beaver populations. The animals were removed in the late 1800s and once they disappeared, wet meadows dried up, according to Kassidy Kern, a spokesperson for the Ochoco National Forest.
Kern said her agency is encouraging dispersal and new occupancy of beavers in the Ochocos. She expects beavers will move into new areas and improve wetland habitat in parts of the national forest.
“We have been encouraging beavers to re-colonize wet meadows over the decades through habitat improvement projects. When our wet meadows function appropriately, they act as giant cold water sponges holding water on the landscape year-round,” she said.
It’s not rocket science. Beavers do good things for Oregon. So we have this crazy idea that we should keep them around and use a thimbleful of caution when we decide to kill them. Makes sense to me.
Reese Mercer, the founder of Western Beavers Cooperative, a group that supports beaver recovery, said private landowners in Crook County already work with state wildlife management agencies when managing wildlife so the new rules won’t be a big change when it comes to dealing with beavers. But Mercer worries how beavers will be treated under the new rules and she discourages relocation of beavers as a solution.
“Beaver relocation has low, long-term success and is stressful and often deadly to the beavers,” she said, adding that changes habitat improvements on private lands can help mitigate conflict between people and beavers.
“Infrastructure adaptation and mitigation solutions as the best way to address beaver conflicts,” she said.
Well well well I like everything about this article. And I LOVE what Reese has to say on the subject. Fingers crossed the governor will sign it soon.
