Beaver management meeting draws many supporters of trapping

The Hill County Park Board’s Rules and Regulations Committee held a meeting Wednesday with strong viewpoints expressed on both sides regarding the future of the board’s methods of beaver population control in Beaver Creek Park.

The meeting was the second in a series that will be held by the committee meant to gauge the public’s opinion on the long-controversial issue of beaver trapping, which some argue is the only efficient way of controlling beaver populations in Beaver Creek Park.

Others argue that lethal trapping is inhumane and alternatives exist, though many question their efficacy or cost efficiency.

The committee will eventually come up with a policy to recommend to the Hill County Park Board, but that will not be until all meetings are over.

Like at the first one, Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson — the commissioners also are members of the park board — led the meeting, but he extended the time limit speakers had from two minutes to four. The tight time limits at last month’s meeting was a subject of criticism by many in attendance.

Another respect in which the meeting differed was that it was not as evenly split in terms of opinion as the last, with the vast majority of attendees advocating for continued or increased lethal trapping.

Among those was Bill Lanier, who said beavers in the park are having a serious negative effect on the local Boy Scouts which he is a part of.

Lanier said it’s becoming difficult for the Scouts to move equipment in the park and the damage caused by the animals has effectively made numerous campsites unusable.

“It’s destroying the park,” he said.

Brenda Evans, another attendee, raised similar concerns and said she’s been picnicking in the park for more than 30 years and the amount of trees that have been destroyed and the fishing being negatively impacted is very concerning.

Evans said the animals’ natural predators are staying away because of the presence of humans, and humans now need to fill that role to maintain the population.

Despite this, she said, she is not opposed to testing alternatives, but trapping needs to continue.

Kent Gilge also spoke at the meeting and said he felt he should weigh in based on his 30 years of experience gathering fisheries data and as an area fisheries biologist, now retired, with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, though he said he was not at the meeting in any official capacity but speaking for himself.

Gilge mainly focused on his concern for the local trout population, which he said could be negatively affected by the excessive number of beaver on the park.

He said beaver, if not manage properly, can displace trout spawning habitat and their dams impede fish migration. He said the dams can also increase water temperatures often exceeding the lethal threshold for the fish.

He said the presence of beaver can also cause the loss of a number of insect species in the area and also impede access for fisherman.

Gilge said scientists in northern Wisconsin who face a similar situation came to the conclusion that lethal trapping is the only cost-effective way to deal with their problem.

He also cited research by the Animal Alliance of Canada, which recommend against frightening devices, repellents and trapping, lethal or otherwise.

He said the reason the the alliance opposes lethal trapping is not because it doesn’t work but because they believe it is inhumane.

“These same people would trap and kill rodents that infested their homes and instead of taking them over to the neighbors house alive, they would kill them in a trap,” he said.

Gilge said he thinks trapping should continue, based on his experience and what he still hears from others.

“Beavers are not needed or wanted by any land owner in Hill or Blaine County at this time,” he said. “But I have plenty that want me to come trap one for them.”

Beaver Creek Park Superintendent Chad Edgar fielded some questions from the committee and audience during the meeting, including how much work beaver damage makes for his him and his staff.

He said he doesn’t have exact numbers but the damage definitely creates work for him and the park staff.

Peterson also read a pair of letters sent to him, one from Park Board Chair Tony Reum which said it is not the intention of anyone to eliminate the animals entirely, but trapping is the only way to control the population.

The letter said learning to live with the animals as has been suggested in previous meetings, is not possible.

Jeff Dibblee, another attendee, attempted to make a motion that the committee send the matter to the public for a vote and decide once and for all.

“We hear a lot of different opinions back and forth on this meeting,” he said. “Let the people decide.”

Peterson informed him that the committee does not have that power and that they are only here to hear public opinion.

While Dibblee didn’t initially take a position on the matter of trapping or population control he said later in the meeting that he thinks beaver in general are doing a tremendous amount of damage to trees outside of Beaver Creek Park including at Fresno.

“I tell everyone, if you see beaver, shoot ’em,” he said. “I hate beaver.”

Fran Buell, a Beaver Creek Park cabin owner and member of the Montana Trappers Association, who said she was representing herself and not speaking for the association, brought samples from trees that had been damaged in the past 10 months, which she said she did per the suggestion of Peterson.

She said the animals are causing damage to her property, including water backing up into her property’s outhouse.

She said beaver can carry diseases like tularemia and Giardia which can infect humans and animals that come into contact with water contaminated by the infected animals.

Buell said that, five years ago, her dog contracted the latter, which weakens their immune system, to the point that they needed to be put the animal down three years later.

She said she tried a beaver deceiver, one of the primary non-lethal alternatives to trapping, along with other devices she said didn’t work, though she later said the beaver deceiver she used was home-made.

Despite most attendees supporting trapping, the meeting was not devoid of advocates for non-lethal alternatives.

Renelle Braaten, a long-time advocate of non-lethal alternatives and a former member of the Hill County Park Board, said beaver can have positive effects on the environment and all anyone needs to do to find that out is search for it on Google.

Braaten said trapping is inhumane and alternatives exist that can mitigate damage without hurting them or relocating them, which many attendees objected to as well.

Buell responded to the accusation that trapping is inhumane by saying the fates that many beavers find including dying of disease are far worse.

“Which is a more humane death?” she asked rhetorically.

Buell also said beaver deceivers cost $12,000 to $15,000 to install, but Braaten said that was misinformation.

Lou Hagener, a certified professional in rangeland management, said beaver are useful for raising water levels when necessary, moderating seasonal water flow, and filtering the water, as well as being generally good for the watershed.

Hagener said lethally trapping a beaver only makes way for another beaver to move in to the environment and more sustainable solutions might be available.

“We ought to be able to outsmart an animal with a brain the size of a walnut,” he said. “... Lethal trapping is one tool in the tool box, but there are other tools.”

He said he’s glad many opponents of non-lethal alternatives are looking at the science but said only a narrow slice of that science has been discussed and suggested people do more research and listen to the experts that will be coming to the next meeting.

Peterson said the next meeting will be primarily a chance for experts on population control, the effects of beaver, and non-lethal alternatives to say their piece. He said he’s already got one set to speak but he’s looking for more.

He encouraged everyone who attends the next meeting to listen with an open mind, but he said attendees will still be given a chance to speak.