Landowner Incentives and Normative Tolerances for Managing Beaver Impacts

Limited research has examined landowner acceptance of using incentives for managing wildlife (e.g., compensation schemes). We examined acceptance of strategies for managing beaver impacts, use of incentives to protect habitat and retain beavers on private property, and how responses differed by impact severity, residential location, and experiences with beavers. Data were obtained from surveys of landowners in four regions of Oregon (n = 1,204). Education about how to coexist with beavers was the most acceptable management response across six impact scenarios (e.g., beaver chews trees, floods buildings). Lethal control was unacceptable across all scenarios. As impacts increased, leaving beavers alone became unacceptable and removing dams became acceptable. Irrespective of impact, landowners would be more likely to use incentives (e.g., financial compensation) than remove beavers. Landowners in Eastern Oregon and those who experienced impacts would be less likely to use incentives and considered aggressive strategies (e.g., removing dams, lethal control) more acceptable.