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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Petition Calls to Protect Emblematic OR Species: Beavers

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Wednesday, October 28, 2020   

SALEM, Ore. -- Conservation groups are urging Oregon officials to protect an iconic state animal: the beaver.

Organizations have submitted a petition to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission calling on the state to prohibit commercial and recreational beaver hunting and trapping on federally managed public lands.

Sristi Kamal, senior Northwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said that, added together, these lands make up about half of the state's acreage. She said Oregon ecosystems depend on beavers.

"Beavers improve water quality; maintain or increase stream flows; create and increase the amount of distribution of wetlands, wet meadows, ponds; create refuge and fire breaks during wildfires, like the one, we saw recently; and store carbon and increase and diversify habitats," she said.

Defenders of Wildlife and nine other groups and individuals are part of the petition. The commission will consider the petition at its Nov. 13 meeting.

Kamal said hunting and trapping season lasts from November to March, overlapping with the beavers' breeding season, which is January through March. She said she believes the benefits from beavers outweigh the benefits for hunters and trappers, of which there are fewer than 170 registered in the state. Kamal added that Oregon doesn't offer protections for this species.

"It would be the first measure we are taking in the state to do something about the one animal that's actually on our state flag," she said. "I mean, we are the Beaver State, you know? So, we should do more than just have the animal on our state flag."

If the commission accepts the petition, it would begin a round of rule-making on regulations. Kamal said the public can participate in the hearing by registering on the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife website, or submitting comments to the commission.

Disclosure: Defenders of Wildlife contributes to our fund for reporting on Climate Change/Air Quality, Endangered Species & Wildlife, Energy Policy, Environment, Public Lands/Wilderness. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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