SD Game Fish and Parks May Commission Meeting Hyrid form
– Thursday May 4th, – Friday 5th, 2023
May 4, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. MDT | May 5, 8 a.m.-12 p.m. MDT
At the Event Barn, Custer State Park
Livestream link https://www.sd.net/
Zoom Meeting Link https://state-sd.zoom.us/j/93912915359?pwd=K2FVZzdQSXJTY0NwWG5mSWpSazUwdz09
To join via conference call, dial 1 669 900 9128 – Meeting ID: 939 1291 5359 – Passcode: 0565645
The Event Barn is accessed by road off of highway 16A that heads to the Custer State Park Game Lodge and it is in front of and to the left (east) of the Lodge,
which ask for no change to beaver, mink, opossum, fox, raccoon, jack rabbit, badger, muskrat, weasel, or skunk seasons. A proposal sheet about river otter season is not provided, we don’t yet know what that means.
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UPDATE AFTER THE MEETING
The SDGFP Commission rejected both petitions and kept the 2021 version of beaver hunting/trapping rule in tact. They did however indicate they may revisit the issue in December of 2023, after they learned what the results of the beaver inventory in Black Hills in the fall of 2023 finds.
TAKE ACTION
PHAS has petitioned for changes to beaver trapping rules. We submitted two petitions that are different to maximize chances that one of them moves forward.
Beaver trapping is allowed in private & public land for 12 months in SD except on the BNF where it is 3 months and within the Black Hills Fire Protection district on private land, where it is 6 or 12 months depending on where you are. State law allow folks to remove “conflict beaver” 365 days of the year with a request to and approval of SDGFP.
We ask folks to write in support of better hunting/trapping rules and a management plan for beaver. SD has management plans for many species, but not beaver. To see GFP species plans: https://gfp.sd.gov/management-plans/ We also suggest folks write or testify against the Nest Predator Bounty Program, but that was approved in January for 4 years, so you are “speaking truth to power”. See our alert at: https://phas-wsd.org/sd-nest-predator-bounty-program/
Here are some talking points
People should write or contact SDGFP staff or commissioners, asking for
1. A 3 year moratorium on beaver hunting/trapping in the Black Hills National Forest and
2. Also ask SDGFP to either reduce or eliminate the months of recreational beaver hunting/trapping from other public lands in SD, especially when the public land has a multiple use or wildlife management objective. In our petition we reduced it from 12 months to 5 months, but allowed public land agencies to ask for more or less days.
3. Folks should ask for 5 months of beaver trapping statewide (reduced from current 12 months) on private land.
4. Ask for GFP to create a management plan for beaver
5. Ask for GFP to prioritize non-lethal control of “conflict” beaver
Deadline to submit written comments for May 4-5th meeting, is just before midnight MT on Sunday April 30th – if you want them in the public record for the May 4th meeting. Late comments go to the June meeting,
Written comments can be submitted at https://gfp.sd.gov/forms/positions/. To be included in the public record, comments must include your complete name and city of residence and meet the submission deadline of seventy–two hours before the meeting (not including the day of the meeting) (Sunday night before midnight CT or MT depending on time zone of physical meeting) Unless you want to communicate directly with each Commissioner – https://gfp.sd.gov/commission/members/ (no deadline)
You can
testify in person or by Zoom at about 2 pm MT on Thursday, it is suggested you let GFP know you want to testify in advance (but they allow folks who did register to testify).. Open forum is for speaking on any topic, the public hearing is just for rules up for finalization. To conduct the public hearing and/or open forum as efficiently as possible GFP
asks those wishing to testify to
register by 1:00 pm CT by email to Liz.Kierl@state.sd.us. Testifiers should provide their full names, whom they are representing, city of residence, and which proposed topic they will be addressing.
