MASSACHUSETTS OUTRAGED OVER DESTRUCTION BY BEAVERS AND COST OF CLEANUP TO TAXPAYERS

Central Mass. – At 2pm on Friday, November 21, 2003, Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, along with municipal elected officials, property owners and public works professionals will join together on the steps of Gardner City Hall to address the serious issue of an out-of-control wildlife population in Massachusetts.

Representative Mark J. Carron (D-Southbridge), Representative George N. Peterson Jr. (R-Grafton), Representative Brian Knuuttila (D-Gardner), Boston City Councilor At-Large Stephen Murphy, Senator Stephen Brewer (D-Barre), Representative James Eldridge (D-Acton), Representative Anne Gobi (D-Spencer), Representative Lewis Evangelidis (R-Holden) , Representative Michael Rush (D-West Roxbury), and Representative Emile J. Goguen (D-Fitchburg) will be joined by Paul Kress, Massachusetts Wildlife Federation, members of the East Brookfield Board of Selectmen and the Department of Public Health and others will discuss possible solutions.

While the entirety of Massachusetts is reeling from the drain on budgets to cities and towns, the City of Gardner was chosen as the site for the press conference due to the extreme nature of their problems. In a letter to Rep. Knuuttila, the Director of the Public Works Department in Gardner, Dane Arnold writes, “Three or more highway employees dedicate one to three days a week to removing beaver dams from blocked culverts, totaling at least 52 days lost out of the less than 200 working days so far this year. In other words, 25% of the Highway’s time is dedicated to removing beaver dams in the City of Gardner, and repair and replacement time to the damaged culvert pipes is not accounted for in the 52 lost days.”

Loss to time on the job is not the only concern over beavers. Beaver dams back up brooks and streams to flood roads and property – tree upheaval, land erosion, flooding of septic systems and well water systems. It is an issue of public safety – drinking water contamination is a serious risk associated with beavers, not to mention road closures and traffic issues associated with poor road conditions.
  
However, Gardner is only one of many cities and towns to report a destructive beaver problem. The problem with beaver dams flooding and destroying property is so great in the Towns of East Brookfield and Charlton, they have created Independent Beaver Commissions to deal with these problems. To do so, they are diverting precious tax dollars from independent and municipal funds to deal with this problem - funds that should be used to pay for police, fire and schools.

One of those possible solutions is House Bill 4283, which would once again allow for the use of traps to control the outburst of the wildlife population, which was restricted in 1996. This bill, filed by Representative Mark Carron, is now waiting for a hearing date in the Joint Committee on Natural Resources.

“In 1996, those of us who opposed [the repeal] warned the public that the ban would be a serious risk to our health and safety.  Since its passage, we have only been proven to be correct” stated Jim Wallace, the President of the Gun Owners Action League.

But an out-of-control beaver problem is not the sole reason for filing this legislation.  Since the passage of Question 1 in 1996, which illegalized these traps, the population of animals such as beavers, muskrats, and coyotes has become overwhelming, endangering the lives of humans and domestic animals. Representative George Peterson (R-Grafton) also filed legislation which would repeal restrictions on the use of conibear traps.

“Question 1 was an experiment that failed. Like it or not, there are times that we have to manage wildlife and keep the population down to a coexisting level so that we have balance in nature. It is not just that we have problems in cities and  towns due to beavers, but all animal life is affected when there is an out of balance with the predators,” stated Paul Kress, Massachusetts Wildlife Federation Legislative Chairman.  “This bill is long overdue. I’ve been involved with the Federation for over 20 years and this is one of the most important issues that has come up.”

According to Bob Durand, former Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs, “House Bill 4283 is 8 years overdue.”

Questions or comments regarding House Bill 4283 or the press conference on the 21st can be referred to the Office of Representative Mark Carron's Boston office at 617-722-2060.