As Oregon sees increased fire and drought, The Oregonian/OregonLive provided a wonderful explanation of how beavers help endangered fish and water (State of beavers: Can Oregon shift the narrative on clever rodents?).December 29.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s operations on private property are also covered. The story neglects to mention, though, that ODFW has consistently blocked attempts to limit hunting and trapping on federal public lands.
To no avail, ODFW has been lobbied for years to ban beaver hunting and trapping on federal lands by scientists, conservationists, educators, fishing organizations, watershed councils, and tribal governments. However, the wildlife division of ODFW has persisted in giving in to pressure from hunting groups and the few hunters and trappers that kill beavers without limits throughout their breeding and pregnancy seasons. With this kind of antiquated management, beaver populations cannot grow and cannot offer the intended advantages of storing more water on the terrain. Given that most surface waters in a significant portion of Oregon originate on federal property, this is especially necessary.
The agency has enough rationale, according to even ODFW’s own beaver management working group, to move quickly and decisively on large-scale plans to optimize beaver-modified floodplains on these federal lands.They determined that ODFW could quickly expand beaver-modified landscapes on federal lands and attain significant environmental benefits by implementing hunting restrictions and trapping.
In the past, Oregon has stopped killing beavers in order to restore their numbers during dry spells. It’s time to implement this closure once more.
Fran Recht, Bay of Depoe
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