Written Comment Deadline SDGFP Commission May Meeting
May 4 @ 11:50 am - 11:59 pm
Written Comment Deadline for SDGFP Commission’s May Meeting
It is before midnight MT on Sunday night 5/4/25 – the web site to post comments to is: https://gfp.sd.gov/forms/positions/.
Commission meeting is on Thursday-Friday at Custer State Park’s Event Barn & Zoom. When closer to meeting we will post more info on our May 8th-9th notice – https://phas-wsd.org/event/sd-game-fish-and-parks-may-commission-hybrid-meeting-in-custer-and-zoom/ However you can testify remotely (Zoom) or in person at 2 pm MT on 5/8/25
We want people to write in in support of a moratorium on beaver trapping and hunting in the Black Hills Fire Protection District. We want them to write in support of a a reduction in the months of beaver hunting and trapping season outside of Black Hills from 12 months to 5 or 6 months.
Those reduced hunting/trapping months would be either November 1st to March 31st (5 months) or November 1st to April 30th (6 months). This allows trapping during the period of thick winter pelts, but ends it when species start breeding. The beaver start breeding in May. River otter (who are strongly associated with beaver ) become incidental take in beaver traps and they start breeding in April. Less months of beaver trapping means more beaver & otter on the landscape!
State law allows people whose property is harmed by conflict beaver to contact GFP and get permission to kill the beaver all year long.
We want folk to write in support of relocating northern river otter to western SD, which are now only exist east river. GFP has no plans to relocate some to the west river or improve habitat along west River’s rivers/streams to make the riparian habitat better for otters and to improve chances of natural migration from the Missouri River area.
Here is the petition for rule making on the beaver hunt/trap season that PHAS submitted to the Commission, asking for changes to beaver season.
Here is an attachment to that petition:
https://phas-wsd.org/wp-content/uploads/BH-Beaver-Information-Item-GFP-Dec-2023-final-1.pdf
You can also go to our web site under drop down from Campaigns, Wildlife, Beaver/Otter https://phas-wsd.org/beaver-and-river-otter/
or drop down from Alerts, Beaver https://phas-wsd.org/beaver-alert/
Here is a one page alert that can be printed – https://phas-wsd.org/wp-content/uploads/BeaverHunttrap-alertF2R.pdf
Here is a one page discussion of benefits of beavers that can be printed : https://phas-wsd.org/wp-content/uploads/Benefits-of-Beavers-2025.F2.pdf