House Bill 3464 – Beavers & Wildlife Protection Law
On July 27, 2023, Governor Tina Kotek signed House Bill 3464 into law. The bill’s title “relating to protecting beavers to mitigate climate change effects” changes the status of these important animals and human’s relationship to them in the state of Oregon. More than 34 environmental, wildlife, and farm groups, including Think Wild, endorsed this bill. Molly Honea, Development and Communications Coordinator for Think Wild, testified in support of its passing. The consistent hard work of these interest groups to inform the general public of beavers’ crucial importance has finally paid off. But as a House Bill goes into law, rules are proposed and drafted to explain the nitty-gritty details of how that law will be enacted and enforced. In response to the proposed rule changes shared with us in May of 2024, we submitted the following letter to the Commission:
June 12, 2024
RE: Letter of Support for Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in response to HB3464
Dear Chair Wahl, Vice Chair Hatfield-Hyde, and Members of the Commission,
I am writing on behalf of Think Wild, a non-profit wildlife conservation center located in Bend, Oregon, in support of the proposed rulemaking amendments to House Bill 3464, with additional suggestions for improvement. Think Wild provides wildlife rehabilitation, education, and conservation services to more than six counties in Central and Eastern Oregon. Our Beaver Works Oregon program, which works to promote beaver success on Oregon’s high desert landscapes, has spent the past 5 years working with private and public landholders to develop and implement non-lethal beaver conflict mitigation strategies that serve as long-term solutions for all stakeholders.
We applaud the state’s recent act to remove beaver from the predatory animal designation and modify the damage statute. Managing beavers on private land and promoting efforts to coexist prior to issuing a removal permit are two important steps towards natural beaver population recovery at biologically relevant scales. However, we appreciate that developing and regulating an effective management system places more responsibility on private landholders and their associated district biologists, which can be perceived as a burden.
Key Areas of Support Within the Rulemaking:
- We support that, as HB3464 stipulated, the proposed rules do clarify whether, and under which conditions, to authorize a person to take a beaver without a permit.
- We support the definition of the term “public nuisance” as it pertains to beavers, where the wildlife itself must be the source of the nuisance and not a vocal or adamant public, and “imminent threat,” as it relates to the availability of exceptions to waiting for a permit and that the presence of a beaver does not substantiate an imminent threat.
- We support the proposed changes in 635-043-0076 to record take data as listed, as this information will be valuable as a public dataset to track beaver-human conflict, but also serve as a proxy for measuring beaver populations as a whole. This data could be used to address management and ecological questions with scientific rigor and create opportunities for meaningful engagement with researchers.
We hope that these clarifications allow the bill to be plainly interpreted and implemented. This is important because in order to see the beaver populations rebound, offering the wildfire respite, climate change mitigation, and wildlife habitat cited in HB3464, Oregonians must have a defined path forward.
Suggestions for Revision and/or Clarification:
- Once a term is defined in the rules, there should be consistency in the use of that term throughout to ensure interpretation. For example, the rules define “imminent threat” of a beaver for the criteria for lethal removal, but then other phrases, including “has the potential to cause damage,” and “apparently poses a threat” are used elsewhere when referencing these same criteria.
- Rule 635-043-0071 5B and 5C states that the owner or designee of the owner must first request the Department to address the threat to infrastructure apparently posed by the beaver and that the owner wait 30 days after making the request. There is limited to no explanation of via what means and scope the Department must address the threat. As the point of contact, and in order to “encourage coexistence with beavers” ODFW will need to outline and/or provide landowners with available solutions, resources, costs/benefits, and steps to implementation. Those responsibilities, mechanisms, and co-existence resources are not currently addressed in the rules.
- We want the rules to clarify that a wildlife control operator is not a proxy for the Department and Wildlife and should be subjected to the same requirements as a private landowner. Wildlife Control Operators (WCOs) should not be a replacement representative and rule interpreter for private landowners, just because WCOs have permits. For most WCOs, it is a financial conflict of interest to try and move a landowner from lethal options to non-lethal.
- The Costs of Compliance overview indicates time will be allotted to handling complaints, issuing permits, and cataloging mortalities at several different steps, but not advising on solutions to abate them. Advising on coexistence options and implementing them are the primary steps necessary for a comprehensible rollout, and the actions necessary for the ultimate aims of the bill to be achieved.
We also note that the funding package, HB 4014, was unanimously passed in the House but did not receive funding in the Ways and Means Committee this year. Reducing financial barriers to change will, through both law and practice, shift how private landholders see and treat beavers. This would fulfill steps a) and b) of the proposed rules by facilitating coexistence with beavers through the promotion of tools to manage or prevent damage caused by beaver. Funding commitments to private, public, and practitioner partnerships, like the funding package approved by the Oregon legislature, increase widespread understanding of and approval for co-existence solutions. The ensuing positive outcomes encompass heightened awareness and understanding of watershed health issues and public trust in our lawmakers and agencies.
The cohesive rollout of new policies managing a recently maligned keystone species will make all the difference in their successful adoption. We hope you take these comments in the true spirit that we intend – to offer critical departure points so that the rules can better serve the people and wildlife of Oregon, leading to the landscape-level changes we and you are working to achieve.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Maureen Thompson, PhD
Beaver Works Oregon Program Manager
Think Wild
(541)699-1606
