GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 1239

Short Title:  Expand Beaver Program/Funds.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Representatives Bowen; Hall, H. Hunter, and Redwine.
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Referred to:  Appropriations.
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May 4, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO EXTEND THE BEAVER DAMAGE CONTROL PROGRAM AND MAKE THAT PROGRAM AVAILABLE TO ALL COUNTIES EXPERIENCING BEAVER DAMAGE, TO AUTHORIZE WILDLIFE RESOURCES TO COLLECT A FEE FROM LANDOWNERS RECEIVING SERVICES UNDER THE PROGRAM, AND TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS TO IMPLEMENT THE EXTENSION AND EXPANSION OF THE PROGRAM.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  Section 69 of Chapter 1044 of the 1991 Session Laws reads as rewritten:
"BEAVER DAMAGE CONTROL PROGRAM
Sec. 69.  (a)	is established the Beaver Damage Control Advisory Board.  The Board shall consist of nine members, as follows:
(1)	The Executive Director of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, or his designee, who shall serve as chair;
(2)	The Commissioner of Agriculture, or a designee;
(3)	The Director of the Division of Forest Resources of the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, or a designee;
(4)	The Director of the Soil and Water Conservation Division of the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, or a designee;
(5)	The Director of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, or a designee;
(6) 	The Secretary of Transportation, or a designee;
(7) 	The State Director of the Animal Damage Control Division of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, or a designee;
(8)	The President of the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation, Inc., or a designee, representing private landowners in the participating counties; and
(9) 	A representative of the North Carolina Forestry Association.
(b)	The Beaver Damage Control Advisory Board shall develop a program to control beaver damage on private and public lands.  Any county experiencing beaver damage may participate in the program.  The Beaver Damage Control Advisory Board shall act in an advisory capacity to the Wildlife Resources Commission in the implementation of the program.  In developing the program, the Board shall:
(1) 	Orient the program primarily toward public health and safety and toward landowner assistance, providing some relief to landowners through beaver control and management rather than eradication;
(2)	Develop a priority system for responding to complaints about beaver damage;
(3)	Develop a system for documenting all activities associated with beaver damage control, so as to facilitate evaluation of the program;
(4)	Provide educational activities as a part of the program, such as printed materials, on-site instructions, and local workshops;
(5)	Provide for the hiring of personnel necessary to implement beaver damage control activities, administer the program, and set salaries of personnel;
(6)	Evaluate the costs and benefits of the program that might be applicable elsewhere in North Carolina.
Upon the conclusion of the program on December 1, 1994, the Board shall issue a report to the Wildlife Resources Commission on the results of the program.
(c)	The Wildlife Resources Commission shall implement the program, and may enter cooperative agreements with federal and State agencies, local governments, and landholders to accomplish the program.  The Wildlife Resources Commission may charge landowners a fee for the cost of providing services under the program.
The Beaver Damage Control Account is established as a nonreverting account within the Wildlife Resources Fund.  The Wildlife Resources Commission may use revenues in the account only for the beaver damage control program established in this section.  Fees collected under this section, amounts appropriated by the General Assembly or received from the federal government for statewide beaver damage control, and matching funds required of counties participating in the program shall be credited to the account.  Revenue in the Beaver Damage Control Account that has been neither obligated nor expended as of December 1, 1994, shall revert to the Wildlife Resources Fund.
(d)	Any laws regulating the seasons or methods of trapping do not apply to trapping carried out in implementing the beaver damage control program developed pursuant to this section.
					(h)	Subsections (a) through (d) of this section expire December 1, 1994."
Sec. 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Wildlife Resources Commission the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for the 1993-94 fiscal year to implement the statewide beaver damage control program established in Section 69 of Chapter 1044 of the 1991 Session Laws, as amended by Section 1 of this act.  The funds appropriated in this section shall be matched by five thousand dollars ($5,000) of local funds from each county electing to participate in the beaver damage control program.
Sec. 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1993.