Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Beaver Conservation

Hey Brian,

I am very interested in beavers and their ability to positively impact their environment. I have easily found many of the benefits of allowing beavers to inhabit an area, and I have also found some peoples' motivation to remove them from certain areas. What I cannot find is if there are any laws (particularly in Oregon) relating to the killing/trapping/hunting of beavers. It seems to be legal in most places...but why? Are there "beaver conservationists" lobbying for their protection?

I know this probably seems really random. If you could get to the bottom of this, I'd be very grateful.

-Libby

4 comments:

  1. That is random but that's my job. I'll see what I can find.

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  2. this document from the fish and wildlife dept gives a description of the beaver hunting laws. looks like they are like most counties have beaver hunting between november 15th and march 15th, like a lot of other animals. its a furbearing animal and as such has its own rules and regulations listed in tune with other furbearing animals.

    http://www.dfw.state.or.us/resources/hunting/small_game/regulations/2008-2010_Furbearer_Regulations.pdf

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  3. I also looked through the official list of lobbyist and employers, updated in October, and found no lobbyist for either beavers or fur bearing animals.

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  4. In 2009 a collection of grants were given for the conservation of animals thought to represent Oregon, among them the beaver.

    http://www.dfw.state.or.us/conservationstrategy/oregon_150_grants.asp

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