To the Editor:

Vermont is experiencing a severe drought with no rain in sight. Springs, streams, and some rivers are dry. Wells are running dry, and Lake Champlain is at historic low levels. I am writing this as a very concerned conservation biologist witnessing the dramatic and alarming effects of this seemingly endless drought.

If you live near, or pass by, a beaver pond, you will notice that they haven’t gone down much, if at all. I encourage you all to go out, find a beaver pond or wetland, and see this phenomenon for yourself.

My family has a spring-fed pond, normally quite large and about 7 feet deep in the middle. But right now, it is about 2 feet deep at the deepest part, with at least five feet of exposed shoreline and no water entering at all. Just to the north of our property is a class II beaver wetland with several ponds.  They are full of water and the surrounding landscape is lush and green.

As a keystone species, beavers create, enhance and maintain habitat that countless other species rely on for survival. As ecosystem engineers, beavers change the landscape by converting small streams into vast dynamic wetlands, swamps and meadows.  Many studies, dating back to pivotal research done in Alberta Canada in the early 2000’s, have demonstrated that beavers can release water, stored underground in wet periods, during droughts. This is incredibly important for wildlife, plants, and even livestock in some places. So…. why are we allowing beavers to be trapped and killed starting at the end of this month when the trapping season opens? Shouldn’t the VT Fish and Wildlife department issue a moratorium on trapping beavers to preserve any wetlands we still have and protect the remaining sources of water for struggling wildlife and ecosystems?

Recently, I wrote to the Fish and Wildlife Board and Commissioner asking for a moratorium on beaver trapping this year. My request fell on deaf ears. I was told the beaver population is stable and trapping has no impact on it. But killing just one beaver in a pond or wetland can destroy a colony and collapse the wetland ecosystem.  Beavers are very territorial and maintain their habitat in tight family groups dependent on two adults. Killing one or both adults results in killing the entire family by starvation or predation. Without the beavers, the wetland dries up and becomes a meadow.

When beavers come into conflict with human infrastructure, usually by flooding roads, efficient and effective flow devices can be installed to maintain water levels in ponds and allow coexistence. This should be the priority of any management program. Because beavers are critically important for their ability to mitigate the effects of climate change, there is no justification for any recreational trapping of this species. Rather, they deserve our protection as they provide ecoservices we, and countless other species, will depend on more and more as the climate crisis intensifies.

-Jennifer Lovett, MS, Starksboro

Open letter from to Sen. Peter Welch on the government shutdown:

To Senator Welch – First of all, President Trump did not direct Senate Republicans to not negotiate with Democrats in order to close the government down.  How are you even supposed to know this?

When the “Big New Bill” was passed by both the House and Senate earlier this year, it was done so in a partisan way (which included both Republicans & Democrats), and it included the “sunsetting” of certain bills/legislation related to Obama Care, (which doubled the cost of health care) by the end of the 2025 year, Dec. 31, 2025!

Now the House (without the support of Democrats) has passed a resolution to extend funding the government for an additional 7 weeks beyond the due date of Sep. 30th, 2025, and now the Senate Democrats have refused to pass the additional funding, and in turn are the reason the government was shut down!!

Whatever you say about the terrible things a government shutdown will bring about, you are one of those few Senators who now refuse to vote to open the government.   What was your vote on the “Big New Bill”???  Did you vote in support???  If you did, and now are voting to not open the government, you and the Senate Democrats are in fact hypocrites, and are the reason for shutting down the government.  

My personal opinion about you Senator, is that you are sucking up to the Liberal/Progressive/Socialists (i.e. Bernie & Balint) to prove you are of one voice in Vermont, as well as the Liberal/Progressive/Socialists in D.C. in order to side with the “Squad.”

Thank you, and I implore you to do what is right for our country, and that is to vote to end the Democrat caused government shut down.

– George L. Verdon, Colchester