Senate committee sends beaver-protection bill to floor after split vote

On May 20, 2025, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire voted 3-2 to advance House Bill 3932a to the Senate floor with a “do pass” recommendation.

The bill “prohibits the taking of beavers in designated areas and requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to publish a map identifying these areas,” committee staff member Alexa summarized during the committee’s work session. Alexa said the measure also allows federal or state land-management agency employees to take beavers only “when necessary to address damage or an imminent threat to infrastructure, agricultural crops, or private property adjacent to public lands only with authorization from the Department of Fish and Wildlife,” and that the bill “does not supersede the rights of federally recognized tribes nor does it interfere with tribal harvest activities or cooperative management agreements between tribes…