First year deemed a success | Registered trappers get $30 for each beaver killed
A popular program aimed at reducing the number of beavers in Saskatchewan municipalities has been relaunched for a second year.
Officials at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities say the Beaver Control Program was an overwhelming success last year.
The province-wide program resulted in the removal of at least 30,000 beavers during a 12-month period beginning in March 2011.
SARM is now accepting applications for 2012-13.
The program offers registered trappers $30 for each beaver that is killed in an eligible Saskatchewan municipality.
The province contributes $15 and registered RMs kick in another $15.
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The province will again contribute $500,000 to the program, including $50,000 for program administration and $450,000 to cover the province’s share of bounties.
Another 30,000 beavers will be removed under the program if all the funds are used, bringing the two-year total to 60,000 animals removed.
“We haven’t changed the program at all from last year to this year,” SARM president David Marit said.
“We had great uptake on it last year so it will be in place again for 2012.”
RMs that wish to take part in this year’s program must apply to SARM by May 31.
The association will notify participating municipalities of approvals and eligibility limits by early June.
More than 130 municipalities participated in the program in 2011-12.
Each participating RM initially qualified for roughly $3,300 in program funding, although some RMs ended up receiving as much as $3,900 after unused funds were reallocated.
Neal Hardy, reeve for the RM of Hudson Bay in northeastern Saskatchewan, said the program provided welcome financial assistance to his municipality.
The RM received almost $3,900 through the program last year and kicked in more than $20,000 of its own money in an effort to reduce beaver numbers.
Hardy estimated that as many as 1,000 beavers were removed from his RM in 2011-12.
“We did it a pretty big way last year,” he said.
“All told, we spent about $25,000 on beaver control last year, but we had just a major beaver problem up here. We’re in the middle of beaver country. There’s forest all around us and rivers and creeks all over, so if we don’t clean them out once in a while, pretty soon they’re flooding out everything.”
In addition to the $25,000 spent on beaver control last year, the RM of Hudson Bay spent another $50,000 to $75,000 clearing out beaver dams, unplugging culverts and repairing infrastructure damage caused by beavers, Hardy said.
