BILL REQ. #:  H-3458.1 

Read first time 01/12/12.   Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources.

     AN ACT Relating to the management of beavers; adding a new section to chapter 77.32 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 77.36 RCW; creating new sections; and providing an expiration date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that beavers have historically played a significant role in maintaining the health of watersheds in the Pacific Northwest and act as key agents in riparian ecology. The live trapping and relocating of beavers has long been recognized as a beneficial wildlife management practice, and has been successfully utilized to restore and maintain stream ecosystems for over fifty years. The benefits of active beaver populations include reduced stream sedimentation, stream temperature moderation, higher dissolved oxygen levels, overall improved water quality, increased natural water storage capabilities within watersheds, and reduced stream velocities. These benefits improve and create habitat for many other species, including endangered salmon, river otters, sandhill cranes, trumpeter swans, and other riparian and aquatic species. Relocating beavers into their historic habitat provides a natural mechanism for improving the environmental conditions in Washington's riparian ecosystems without having to resort to governmental regulation or expensive publically funded engineering projects.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 77.32 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The department shall offer a beaver relocation permit that allows the holder or the holder's agent to capture live beavers in the areas of the state where elevated beaver populations are considered a nuisance or are causing damage, transport the beavers, and release the live beavers on property owned or managed by the permit holder. Priority of issuing permits must be based on properties in which beaver populations are considered a nuisance.
     (2) The department may limit the availability of beaver relocation permits to areas of the state where:
     (a) There is a low probability of released beavers becoming a nuisance or causing damage;
     (b) Conditions exist for released beavers to improve, maintain, or manage stream or riparian ecosystem functions; and
     (c) There is evidence of historic endemic beaver populations.
     (3) The department may condition beaver relocation permits to maximize the relocation's success and minimize risk. Factors that the department may condition include:
     (a) Stream gradient;
     (b) Sufficiency of the water supply;
     (c) Stream geomorphology;
     (d) Adequacy of a food source;
     (e) Proper site elevation and valley width;
     (f) Age of the beavers relocated;
     (g) Times of year for capture and relocation;
     (h) Requirements for the capture, handling, and transport of the live beavers;
     (i) Minimum and maximum numbers of beavers that can be relocated in one area; and
     (j) Requirements for the permit holder to initially provide supplemental food and lodge building materials.
     (4) The department shall provide beaver relocation permits at no charge to the applicant.
     (5) The holder of a beaver relocation permit must either obtain a trapping license under RCW 77.65.450 or employ a trapper licensed under RCW 77.65.450 to capture and transport the beavers that are to be relocated. The department may require additional training specific to trapping and relocating beavers.
     (6) Nothing in this section creates any liability against the state or the beaver relocation permit holder nor authorizes any private right of action for any damages subsequently caused by beavers released pursuant to a beaver relocation permit.
     (7) For the purposes of this section only, beaver may be relocated from west of the crest of the Cascade mountains to areas east of the crest of the Cascade mountains, but may not be relocated to any area west of the crest of the Cascade mountains.
     (8) For the purposes of this section, "beaver" means the American beaver (Castor cananensis).

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 77.36 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Whenever the department undertakes the trapping of nuisance or problem-causing beavers, the department must, if the option is available, capture the beavers with a live trap and work with the holders of beaver relocation permits issued under section 2 of this act to relocate the beavers onto properties that have requested their placement.
     (2) The department must keep records of all nuisance beaver calls, requests for relocation, and relocated beavers in order to develop an updated understanding of beaver population dynamics.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   (1) The department of fish and wildlife must develop a beaver damage management plan, with the input of interested stakeholders, that outlines a strategy for a sustained, statewide effort to utilize beavers as agents for habitat restoration and water storage through the year 2020.
     (2) The beaver damage management plan must address population management, damage management, watershed restoration, disease and nuisance management, and public education and outreach. This planning must account for, at a minimum, the following:
     (a) Maintaining beaver populations with their current distribution in appropriate habitat;
     (b) Increasing the consistency in the response options available for beaver damage and increase the frequency of use of nontraditional management options;
     (c) Improving riparian habitats, associated streams, and wetlands in a minimum of ten streams through translocating beavers into unoccupied, suitable habitat;
     (d) Minimizing the possibility of spreading aquatic diseases and aquatic nuisance species from known contaminated sources to clean watersheds as a result of beavers moving among drainages;
     (e) Increasing stakeholder awareness of, and the appreciation for, the role of beavers in Washington ecosystems; and
     (f) Improving the understanding of all government employees involved in beaver management and ensure consistent transmission of information and the application of management actions.
     (3) The beaver damage management plan must be completed by June 30, 2013.
     (4) This section expires June 30, 2014.