Did you hear the deftly wielded light saber noises coming from the Pacific North West yesterday? It was the rock-em sock-em take-no-prisoners beaver column in Oregon Live yesterday by Robert L. Beschta, the professor Emeritus at OSU. Let me show you what I mean.

Opinion: Oregon’s beavers – our ‘ecological engineers’ – need our help

In June 2020, a citizen’s group formally requested that Oregon’s Fish and Wildlife Commission stop beaver trapping/hunting on all federally managed lands, such as on national forests, Bureau of Land Management lands, wildlife refuges, national parks, and others. In support of that request, a letter signed by nearly 40 Oregon researchers, educators, and resource practitioners was provided to the commission — a letter that briefly summarized some of the wide array of ecological benefits beavers can deliver.

Nevertheless, the commission refused to take a vote, and trapping and hunting continues.

Okay, First we asked NICE. And you said pooh pooh no can do. So now we’re going in full bore.

One might ask, why should beavers now be afforded increased protection? Perhaps the simple answer is “new science.” During the last quarter century, the ecological importance of beavers has been increasingly studied and the results have been no less than astounding.

Beavers build dams to create ponds that in turn serve as centralized locations for caching food supplies and help shield them from natural predators. As “ecological engineers,” beavers and their dams generate a multitude of important ecosystem benefits, including creating ponds and wetlands and natural fire breaks, storing groundwater, trapping sediment, keeping wet meadows wet, increasing the diversity of plant communities and augmenting carbon sequestration. These changes have profound positive effects for maintaining stream flows and riparian plant communities during periods of increasing drought. Additionally, they help meet the habitat needs for numerous species of Oregon fish and wildlife, from salmon to birds to bears to elk, as well as the needs of downstream water users.

Beavers could make things better. But youuuuuuuuuu didn’t want that did you? You wanted to be parched and burned and stripped of salmon so you could be free to pursue your beloved trapping.

In the face of ongoing climate change, water shortages, increased fire frequency, drying of streams, and increased threats to fish and wildlife species, providing greater protection of beavers on federally managed lands should be a no-brainer for the state of Oregon. The commission needs to institute a moratorium on the hunting and trapping of beavers on these lands prior to the start of the November 15 season. The moratorium should remain in effect until the formal process of making more permanent changes in trapping and hunting rules can be completed.

I think I know what’s happening here. It’s not that trappers are so special or that ODFW loves them soo darn much. It’s that the handful of trappers keep beavers ‘out of the way’, Taking care of a pesky depredation problem for free and with no permitting needed. Trappers are being USED to clear the way for regular maintenance. Get rid of the beavers or their children so park officials never have to problem solve. The same way maga voters were being “USED” to threaten democracy and create enough bruhaha that the Trump coffers stay fully funded.

The time is long overdue for Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife to fully implement its mission statement — “to protect and enhance Oregon’s fish and wildlife and their habitats for the use and enjoyment by present and future generations.” Oregon streams, deep in a drought and the wildfire season, need water. As a keystone species, beavers can help us in these trying times but only if we protect them.

BAM! SMASH! PEW PEW PEW! You tell ’em Robert! Nicely laid out.

Beschta, who has a doctorate in watershed management, is emeritus professor of forest ecosystems and society at Oregon State University. He lives in Corvallis.

Don’t say I never gave you anything. Be nice and tomorrow I’ll take you on a beaver field trip with Suzanne Fouty!

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