Purpose of the proposal and its anticipated effects, including any changes in existing rules:

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife proposes to create a new section in WAC Chapter 220-450, Wildlife in captivity and wildlife rehabilitation. The agency’s purpose for this rule, if adopted, is to create a permit program allowing citizens to offer relocation as an alternative to lethal removal of conflict beaver.

The Beaver Relocation Permit Program has existed as a pilot program since 2019.  The program offers an alternative to lethal removal of conflict beavers and provides education and support for citizens and non-profits as they perform relocations around the state.  It is a requirement of the program that only conflict beavers can be relocated and only after all coexistence options have been exhausted. 

Since its inception, the program has successfully relocated over 80 beavers with the collaboration of WDFW wildlife services, certified Wildlife Control Operators, and permitted licensed trappers.

This new section will codify the aspects of the pilot program we have found successful, such as: 

• Specify the requirements for permittees and subpermittees, including qualifications, training, husbandry facilities, and reporting. 
• Identify which beavers are candidates for relocation, which must be conflict-causing and have exhausted all methods of coexistence.
• Specify the requirements for release sites, which must be assessed for a combination of abiotic and biotic factors to determine the suitability of the site in addition to the factors listed in RCW 77.32.585 and with the agreement of the landowner. 
• Specify the conditions during temporary captivity, including duration, avoiding disease transmission, preventing habituation and imprinting, and outline the steps to take when a beaver shows illness, injury, or mortality.
• Identify the conditions under which a permit may be revoked, modified or suspended and the steps taken by the permittee, subpermittee, and the agency. 

RCW 77.32.585 is a significant legislative rule permitting the agency to release wild beavers. This section will create the permitting program to oversee the citizens performing these relocations.

This new section will build from the existing Beaver Relocation Permit Pilot Program to a permanent program permitting the program to have enforceable rules.  RCW 77.32.585 required that the department permit the release of wild beavers under certain conditions and introduced guidelines for allowing relocation. The proposed rule incorporates aspects of the pilot program to establish, if finalized as proposed, a permitting process for overseeing and regulating beaver relocation through enforceable rules.

Citizens relocating wildlife is an unlawful practice, but this section will allow the permit program which trains and supports Permittees to continue. The proposed rule would establish conditions and requirements related to the Beaver Relocation Permits, as well as processes for administering the program. This section will also outline the requirements for beaver release sites to encourage release site fidelity and prevent future conflict events with the beaver in question. The new rule will also identify penalties for not following the department’s requirements on relocating beaver.