Increasing Numbers of Beaver

Enoch Shiedt of Kotzebue reported, "Beaver are a problem for people in Bethel, Dillingham, Kobuk, Selawik. They are thinking of dynamiting the dams. But ADF&G right now says no - there is only one enforcement person for Nome. I hunt in Selawik and they are getting scared about the Beaver problem. Noatak is a gifted area - but it's changing out there and it's scary."

Hannah Miller from Council observed, "The Eldorado River I use - it has little streams that are dammed by beaver and the silvers were laying around in front of the dam. When I saw a female and picked it up, the eggs were coming out. I was thinking, they may spawn anywhere they can, but when all their streams are blocked what do they do? When creeks are dammed, does it put any stress on fish? It's frustrating for me, so I think maybe it's frustrating for them too. Q: were there beaver dams in the old days? A: No, I used to have to send for skins to Galena. We never had them here."

Paul Erhart of Tanana reported, "My people hunted there for over 100 years, and in one house we had 32 beaver. Because a lot of our lakes don't freeze as deep. Uncle John can tell you more about that. What's happening is that because the winters are warmer, the lakes don't freeze all the way down and more of the young beaver survive. That's what is causing them to proliferate. We have a high rate of increase in beaver. We are having warmer winters than usual on a consecutive basis. My people have hunted Hay Slough for over a hundred years plus--we now have more beaver than ever in this slough because of warm winters that give the beaver the most favorable conditions to survive. The beaver then proceed to dam and tier off the sloughs so resident species of fish, which again provides the Indians with a very viable source of food, cannot reach their spawning ground to provide the next generation of food for the Indians of the Interior."

Delano Barr of Shishmaref reported, "I talked with Elders and it was absolutely unheard of - 4-5 beaver houses in Serpentine Flats. They are definitely moving up north into new areas."

Charles Friday of Hooper Bay noted, "The beavers in my area fish under the ice in the wintertime. Ever since this started happening, our fish have been greatly destroyed. The fish go up and spawn, and they don't do this anymore and these beavers are destructive and it is just like taking food away from the animals. So the only strange thing is that animals are being sighted where they usually are not supposed to be sighted."

Kenneth Cleveland from Quinahagak observed, "One elderly man was saying that some animals declined in number, and they declined along the shores and one reason is that those trees are no longer there. Those beaver houses are just lined up along the river. There used to be lots of beaver all over, but their number is declined at this time. I'm glad to see that they are declining. There used to be lots of caribou, and they moved down to a different area. There are a lot of reindeer that die around here. They are going downward. I think that the elders are like the beaver in that both are moving to the point of extinction. Where are the elders? No more. They are not increasing, they are decreasing."

Please go to the next step, possible causes of these concerns.