Prevent recreational trapping in Town For...

<p>Monday December 14 at 5:45 pm the Bolton Town Select Board is meeting to possibly approve a request to trap beaver and fisher in the Town Forest.&nbsp;</p><p>The beaver colony has been here since the mid 1940's at the least and has never been trapped in that time (70 years). The beaver have not, and are not, damaging the forest, flooding roads or farmland, or overpopulating. They do NOT need trapping. The request is purely "recreational" and for possible&nbsp;private gain - from public land.&nbsp;</p><p>Beaver maintain the dams and create a cascade of habitat benefits for the entire ecosystem. Trapping puts all of that at risk and degrades public recreational opportunities. Further, with the abundance of people and their dogs on the trails, and now otters on the lake (recent and rare here), the risk of "incidental take" from the traps is not negligible and has been dismissed with inadequate consideration by members of the Conservation Committee.&nbsp;</p><p>This petition is to provide the Select Board and the Conservation Committee with a sense of the community for the meeting Monday. Hopefully we will have enough signers from Bolton and the immediate towns to make it plain that on top of the lack of management reasons to allow trapping, there is significant public opposition.&nbsp;</p><p>Thank you,</p><p>Rob Mullen - West Bolton Vermont</p>