As Grey County prepares to double the compensation rates it pays out through its nuisance beaver program and coyote and wolf predation program, it plans to continue to work to review and streamline the process after concerns were raised by some area trappers. <\/p>\n
On Thursday, council heard from staff about the issues trappers have had around changes to the process since county council passed new bylaws in August to control and manage nuisance beavers and coyotes. <\/p>\n
Among the issues raised were the elimination of county compensation for beavers taken on public lands, the move to a more detailed form, and a pre-approval process that would lead to additional travel requirements and costs for trappers. <\/p>\n
Under the new bylaws, set to take effect on Jan. 1, the county is doubling the rates it pays out for beavers killed on private land to $50 and for coyotes to $100, with both indexed annually to inflation. <\/p>\n
The county rate for beavers has been $25 since the last time it was raised in 1992, while the rate for coyotes has been stuck at $50 since 2004. The increases bring the compensation in line with those paid out in neighbouring Bruce County. <\/p>\n
Chief Administrative Officer Randy Scherzer said staff have definitely heard the concerns from trappers, have made improvements and will look for other opportunities to streamline the process. <\/p>\n
\u201cI know staff have been doing their best to look for opportunities to work with the trapping community,\u201d Scherzer said. \u201cIt is a valued service that we all rely on to ensure our infrastructure is protected.\u201d <\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s council agenda included a Sept. 18 letter from five area trapperswho raise their concerns about the changes to the bylaws. <\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough the increase in compensation for controlling flooding, damming and tree cutting caused by nuisance beavers is welcomed, we believe several aspects of the recent changes require further consideration,\u201d the letter states. <\/p>\n
The signees of the letter note that they felt an information session held by the county on the bylaws was \u201cmore of a presentation than a forum\u201d and they felt they didn\u2019t have adequate opportunity to contribute to the development of the changes. <\/p>\n
In their letter they outlined their concerns around the prevention of county beaver claims for animals taken on public land and roadways, and the revision of the administrative process including the introduction of an online form which some trappers wouldn\u2019t be able to access, the addition of more pages to the form and the pre-approval process requiring an additional trip \u201csimply to obtain a signature before work begins,\u201d resulting in additional travel, fuel expense and lost time. <\/p>\n
West Grey Mayor Kevin Eccles, who raised the matter for discussion, said he had hoped the policy changes would streamline the process, but he had heard from the trappers it was going in the opposite direction. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think the intent was to compensate and be able to maintain our control over problematic flooding issues from beaver and the predation that coyotes have and make it a bit of a streamlined process, so that we can have that control and keep public safety in place,\u201d said Eccles. \u201cFrom what I am understanding that is not the way that it seems to be.\u201d <\/p>\n
Director of Planning Scott Taylor noted that since receiving the letter in September, staff have met with the trappers to understand their concerns and look for areas to address the challenged identified. An open house was held in the council chamber of Monday to gather additional input from hunters and trappers. <\/p>\n
Taylor explained that under the county\u2019s new program, nuisance beavers in public areas such as around municipal roads would be negotiated between the individual trapper and the municipal road authority. <\/p>\n
Taylor said they are further discussing compensation for trappers on public lands in instances where \u201cin their words, some municipalities don\u2019t fairly compensate them for their time.\u201d In the past, having the county compensation on top of any municipal compensation they received, would bring them up to a threshold that would make the work financially viable for them, he explained. <\/p>\n
Taylor said they have asked the trappers to provide details that would help staff understand the cost to do the work they do and in return the amounts they would need to make it worthwhile for them. <\/p>\n
Taylor said they have spoken to trappers on the new pre-authorization requirement, which he said came late in the process to ensure the county meets provincial legislation that has been updated since the county last updated the bylaws. Additionally, because of provincial legislation, trappers would need authorization from both landowners in cases where neighbouring landowners require their services, Taylor said. <\/p>\n
The county has been working on ways to streamline the forms, and Taylor said they expect to be able to reduce them from the current five pages, down to two or three. <\/p>\n
To address the concerns about the additional trips, Taylor said they are working on introducing the online form, and allowing trappers to go to a closer municipal office to submit forms. Paper forms will be made available for those without computers or smartphones. <\/p>\n
In regard to the wolf and coyote bylaw, Taylor noted the county has streamlined that process by eliminating the need for the municipal livestock evaluator to inspect the scene for county compensation purposes, although it still may be required for other compensation, including any payout for affected livestock that may exist. <\/p>\n
Back in June, when the beaver and coyote bylaws came forward for discussion, county staff had recommended the elimination of the programs completely, and focus on education and non-lethal methods. But councillors instead voted in favour of increasing the compensation paid out \u2014 for beavers because of the damage caused when roads and farm fields are flooded out, and coyotes for livestock kills and the financial and emotional impact it has on farmers. <\/p>\n
Taylor said the process update has been challenging as not many counties still have similar programs. Those that do include Bruce County and Dufferin County. <\/p>\n
Grey Highlands Mayor Paul McQueen said protecting roads from being flooded can prevent higher repair costs, while farmland needs to be protected \u201cunless you are growing rice.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said a major reason the coyote predation program is still necessary in Grey County is because it is a region where there is an abundance of livestock. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are mostly cattle and sheep in Grey-Bruce,\u201d said McQueen. \u201cOther counties are more cash-cropping or higher urban growth. I think that is probably a reflection of why other counties don\u2019t have it.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Grey County prepares to double the compensation rates it pays out through its nuisance beaver program and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":969217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[330166,49,48,306160,306158,66,323],"class_list":["post-969216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-330166","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-category-owen-sound-region-news","tag-owen-sound-sun-times","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=969216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/969217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=969216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=969216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=969216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}