Arkansas Natural

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Arkansas Natural Resources Commission
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Conservation District Beaver Control Program

• Issues that lead to legislation
• Damage to crop fields
• Damage to timber

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Conservation District Beaver Control Program

• Created under Act 630 of 1993
• Administered by the Arkansas Natural Resources
  Commission through Arkansas Conservation
  Districts
• Act 1358 of 1997 appropriated 150,000 per for
  two years
• CDs will be reimbursed 5 per beaver
• Beaver harvesters must be certified

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CD Participation

• To receive money through the Conservation
  District Beaver Control Program, CDs must submit
  a District Beaver Control Plan, which complies
  with the commissions rules, by September 1 of
  each year,

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Before harvesting can begin, the commission must
approve the district plan which

• Designates a beaver control officer
• Provides that the tails be notched when brought
  to the officer
• Sets up a schedule for beaver control officer to
  submit reports of payments to the harvesters to
  the district board and for board application for
  reimbursement
• Approximates the number of beavers to be
  harvested within the year

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Allocation of funds by ANRC

• projected Harvest
• Funds carried over from prior year
• other factors to insure fairness and assure funds
  are expended each year

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Conservation Districts

• Maintain a list of beaver harvesters in the
  county
• Require harvesters certify number of beavers
  trapped
• Harvesters are required to identify the
  landowners they trapped on for each billing.

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CD Participation and Annual Funding Level

• State - 150,000
• County - 146,000
• Other - 32,000
• Total - 328,000
• 50 conservation districts receive funding for
  this program in Arkansas.

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Other funding for Conservation District Beaver
Control Program

• County Funding
• - Quorum Court
• - Voluntary Tax
• Irrigation and Drainage Districts
  
• Landownrers

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Bounties Paid by Districts

• Bounty Number of Counties
• 5 10
• 10 30
• 15 6
• 20 1
• 25 3

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Total Funding

• Since 1997 the State of Arkansas has funded
  the beaver control Program at the 2.1 million
  level (Approximately 420,000 beaver harvested)
• Counties have expended 2.0 million dollars. Most
  of these funds have been used to increase
  bounties.
• Other funding sources have provided an additional
  448,000.
• Its hard to estimate what landowners have thrown
  into the funding mix to get harvesters on their
  property.

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Summary

• After 14 years the beaver still causes millions
  in flood damages to crops and timber each year.
• However, we have been successful in some areas.
  Beaver are being controlled enough to keep
  irrigation ditches open, road ditches unclogged,
  and major drainage channels free of beaver dams.

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What can be done to improve on our success in the
future?

• What can be done to improve on our success in the
  future?
• The allowable bounty for the State needs to be
  increased from 5 to 10 to increase the
  incentive for harvesters
• Additional funding needed. The allocation for
  this program has stayed the same since 1997.

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Questions
Thank You
ANRC
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