Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson, 2014. All Rights Reserved
From Trap Free Montana Public Lands supporters,
After spending over 3 years as a trail volunteer for Lee Metcalf Wildlife refuge in Stevensville Montana, a dedicated volunteer quit as a result of finding a beaver strangled, drowned, intentionally from a snare. When she asked the staff what was going on they said these were planned trappings for night to kill beavers for the waters for ducks. The legal trapping of beaver ended in this district 7 days before this beaver was trapped.
What can we say of Montana, a dry arid state, with increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation, with shrinking wetlands impacting rare and endangered species, reduced water resources impacting big game browse, agriculture, irrigation, fisheries and natural fire breaks, where perhaps the most critically necessary species able to create and rectify these dwindling resources……….is not permitted to live out their vital role in the ecosystem and instead of finding safe haven is purposefully trapped and killed at our wildlife refuge, contradictory to the design and vitality of the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge in the first place.
“Designated in 1964, the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge was created to provide habitats for migratory birds. The 2,800 acres of lush riparian and wetland habitats attract a variety of wildlife. About 250 species of birds, 37 species of mammals, and 17 species of reptiles and amphibians have been documented on the Refuge.” http://visitmt.com/listing/categories_NET/MoreInfo.aspx…
To add insult to injury, to proclaim trapping beaver on the refuge was to benefit ducks?
Beaver help waterfowl by creating increased areas of water, and in northerly latitudes they thaw areas of open water, allowing an earlier nesting season.[55] In a study of Wyoming streams and rivers, watercourses with beaver had 75-fold more ducks than those without.[56]
Trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator) and Canada geese (Branta canadensis) often depend on beaver lodges as nesting sites.[44][57][58] Canada’s small trumpeter swan population was observed not to nest on large lakes, preferring instead to nest on the smaller lakes and ponds associated with beaver activity.[59][60] WikipediaNorth American Beaver
Beaver may benefit the birds frequenting their ponds in several additional ways. Removal of some pondside trees by beavers would increase the density and height of the grass–forb–shrub layer, which enhances waterfowl nesting cover adjacent to ponds.[61] Both forest gaps where trees had been felled by beaver and a “gradual edge” described as a complex transition from pond to forest with intermixed grasses, forbs, saplings, and shrubs are strongly associated with greater migratory bird species richness and abundance.[62] Coppicing of waterside willows and cottonwoods by beavers leads to dense shoot production which provides important cover for birds and the insects they feed on.[63] Widening of the riparian terrace alongside streams is associated with beaver dams and has been shown to increase riparian bird abundance and diversity, an impact that may be especially important in semi-arid climates.[64] WikipediaNorth American Beaver
As trees are drowned by rising beaver impoundments they become ideal nesting sites for woodpeckers, who carve cavities that attract many other bird species including flycatchers (Empidonax spp.), tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), tits (Paridae spp.), wood ducks (Aix sponsa), goldeneyes (Bucephala spp.), mergansers (Mergus spp.), owls (Titonidae, Strigidae) and American kestrels (Falco sparverius).[44] Piscivores, including herons (Ardea spp.), grebes (Podicipedidae), cormorants (Phalacrocorax ssp.), American bitterns (Botaurus lentiginosa), great egret (Ardea alba), snowy egret (Egretta thula), mergansers and belted kingfishers (Megaceryle alcyon), utilize beaver ponds for fishing. Hooded mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus), green heron (Butorides virescens), great blue heron (Ardea herodias) and belted kingfisher occurred more frequently in New York wetlands where beaver were active than at sites with no beaver activity.[65] WikipediaNorth American Beaver
According to FWP, in the last 6 recorded years, almost 40,000 beaver have been reported trapped and killed in Montana. Beaver can be trapped in unlimited numbers throughout much of the year and DO NOT need to be REPORTED.
Need any more reasons to support our initiative? Please help spread the word! Getting our initiative on the ballot and successful passage of it will protect beavers and other species on Montana public lands and refuges!
Trap Free Montana Public Lands (TFMPL) is a ballot issue committee dedicated to achieving trap free public lands in Montana in 2014 through a citizen driven ballot initiative.
TFMPL PO Box 1347 Hamilton, Montana 59840
406-218-1170 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 
406-218-1170 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting
406-218-1170 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Exposing the Big Game 
Why is the Science never considered in the ecosystem to make sound decisions
The hunters need to be taken out of the decision making process … It is discriminatory to allow their views on
which animal they want more of .. It is a huge flaw in the process…why should we allow this ? Everyone know how much the beavers do for the environment… It is a ‘racist’ point of view … This type of picking species to hunt is morally and scientifically wrong, it needs to be outlawed .. now !
TOTALLY DISGUSTED!!! The self proclaimed “hunters” are mostly bloodthirsty, cold-hearted humans! I can’t even believe they are LEGAL in this time and era when they are the last thing on planet anyone “needs”. STUPIDITY IS ENDLESS! with it comes EVIL!
The stark reality is this: National Wildlife “Refuges” were originally set up to serve as “duck factories” for the hunting & trapping industries, along with opportunities for livestock grazing. Often, these “refuges” do not have any water rights, which agriculture controls. Here in the West, wildlife refuges have little, if any water now, due to Climate Change drought, and livestock grazing. Politics rules, with “science” having little impact–another example is the politics, not science, in the overall denial of Climate Change. Unless people are willing to stand up against the hunting/trapping & public lands grazing, to give native wild animals room to roam, nothing will change.
http://www.foranimals.org