Virginia Moves to Control Exploding Beaver Population

Beaver populations have grown so strong and pervasive that they are causing what the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls “epidemic” destruction of private property, crops and roads.

The USDA is recommending a “beaver damage management plan” for Virginia, in which localities, state agencies and landowners work together and share costs to contain the tree-gnawing mammals.

The Virginia Department of Transportation, citing increasing cases of flooded highways, failing shoulders and potential road hazards, has hired USDA’s Wildlife Services division to kill and control as many as 2,000 nuisance beavers this year.

The contract is worth as much as $272,000, or about $135 per beaver. It can be renewed annually if the problem persists.

“Citizens don’t want to see the wholesale killing of animals, and we agree with that,” said Jeff Southard, environmental coordinator at the state transportation agency. “But we have to keep the roadways safe. That’s paramount to us.”

The highway department does not track beaver-related incidents or damage. But Southard said recent discussions with district engineers statewide showed that the Virginia’s transportation department needs help to fight the beavers.

The North American beaver population has boomed in the past few decades to between 6 million and 20 million animals, from about 100,000 in the early 1990s, according to the Center for Watershed Protection.

In Virginia, zero beavers were counted in 1911 and about 100,000 were counted last year, said Randy Farrar, a beaver expert and biologist with the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Farrar said the number of beavers statewide is expanding by about 6% a year.