Living With Beavers
Memorandum of Understanding
Tualatin Basin Beaver Strategy-Coordination of Beaver Response
In 2021 the Tualatin Basin Beaver Committee (TBBC) saw the need for more effective beaver management strategies to reduce beaver costs and management needs, while supporting their critical environmental benefits. TBBC surveyed partners across the basin to identify where they should focus their efforts.
From these results, TBBC developed educational guides to assist all agencies in responding to beaver-related inquiries. Additionally, the committee crafted a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), a non-binding agreement formalizing commitments between multiple parties. In 2023, TBBC introduced this MOU to partners across the Tualatin River basin, fostering a collaborative approach to sustainable beaver management.
Intent
Help all invested parties stay connected around beaver-related issues in Washington County,
Provide access to cohesive communication materials and resources developed and prompted by the Tualatin Basin Beaver Strategy (TBBS), and
Assist with streamlining communication, building strategy, fostering county-wide organization, and adding efficiency for managing beaver related conflicts in Washington County.
Goals
Communication & Collaboration:
Bringing agencies together to agree to general beaver response messaging and protocols to increase efficiency, decreasing costs associated with beaver management, and providing a more consistent response for Tualatin Basin residents;
Conflict Management:
Reducing human-beaver conflicts in the Tualatin Basin by providing more effective beaver management options and technical assistance for land managers and property owners;
Education:
Increasing public awareness and understanding of the importance of beavers in the ecosystem, as well as effective methods for learning to live with them and mitigating unwanted impacts; and
Proactive Management:
Developing a long-term, proactive watershed-wide beaver restoration strategy for the Tualatin Basin that seeks to encourage beavers and their benefits and to reduce human-beaver conflict.
Why is this MOU necessary?
Collaborative development of a proactive beaver management strategy will help preserve and expand opportunities across the basin to realize the benefits beaver provide for watershed health, help inform decision-making around restoration planning, and help organizations respond to beaver conflict. The Tualatin River basin needs an organized vision to guide managers in their efforts to promote coexistence strategies for beaver management. A unified strategy to reduce beaver-human conflicts and promote coexistence whenever possible through streamlined communications, messaging, and education will provide benefits for people and the environment.
Establishing general approaches to beaver management will improve communication among land managers and the public. Coordinating on public-facing messaging and educational materials developed and promoted by the TBBS will ensure information is accessible to the public and increase public understanding and support for the benefits of beavers and coexistence strategies. Collaborating to provide education and training for partners will ensure technical resources and experience are widely available throughout the basin.
A complete version of the MOU can be found here.
If your organization is interested in signing this MOU, please contact Antonella Fillet at antonella@trwc.org.