Help OFB Oppose Limits on Private Management of Problem Beavers!
On Thursday, March 18th at 3:15pm, the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources will hear HB 2844, which would limit the ability of private landowners to manage beaver on their private lands, and make trapping beaver more costly for trappers.
Presently, beavers are correctly classified as a “rodent” and managed as a predator on private lands by the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Under current law, they can be taken by a private landowner or their agent on their private lands without the need for state authorization. They can also be taken on public lands with a furbearer license.
HB 2844 would change that management structure for both private and public lands, moving management authority to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, requiring a permit be issued for each individual take of beaver, and requiring non-lethal measures prior to taking beaver! This approach ignores private landowners' need to be able to manage beavers quickly and without administrative hurdles to protect their infrastructure and property.
We need you to show up and help us defeat this damaging proposal! How can you help? Please complete ALL THREE STEPS below!
Show up to Testify!
To sign up to testify, please
click here and sign up to testify live at the hearing! After you fill out the form, you will be emailed a link to participate. Please note that the hearing is time limited, and they are exceedingly unlikely to get to many members of the public who sign up. However, the more people that sign and show up, the more the committee will understand that this is an issue that people care about, and that deserves a full hearing!
Submit Written Testimony!
Please
click here to submit written testimony for the committee using the talking points below.
Write your Legislator!
Use
our form to write your legislator a letter using the talking points below!
Talking Points:
I am a farmer, and beaver management is critical to maintaining my farm infrastructure, preventing flooding, and maintaining roads.
Beavers can cause extensive riparian damage, their dams can block culverts, wash out critical roads, flood farm fields, homes, and parks, and alter water systems. I rely on the ability to privately trap beavers to avoid the significant damage that beavers can cause to my operation. I do not trap beavers for sport – I only take them when they are causing damage to my property or impacting my farm.
Beavers are abundant on our landscape, and there is no data that suggests that they need additional protection. Additionally, the bill proposes to remove the classification of beavers as a rodent. Beavers are taxonomically classified as rodents, and should be correctly identified in statute.
As a landowner, I need to address a beaver issue that is jeopardizing my property immediately. I cannot afford to be required to get a permit from ODFW (which I know environmental groups would advocate should eventually not be issued). Further, the available non-lethal deterrence doesn’t work well in my experience, and relocating beavers can actually transfer disease.
I need to maintain the ability to manage predatory species as needed to protect my farm – the state should not eliminate tools, especially with no sound scientific basis to do so. I urge you to OPPOSE HB 2844.
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