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House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources

Monday, March 23, 2026·▶ Watch / Listen

A pair of wildfire bills born from the Wildfire Matters Review Committee ran into a wall of opposition, as the House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Committee killed HB26-1323, which would have barred recreational and commercial trapping of beavers on public land, over objections that the wildfire rationale was 'absurd' and that wildlife belongs to CPW's biologists. HB26-1310, a home-hardening grant bill that would redirect state wildfire dollars toward fortifying individual homes, was still in opposition testimony when the record cuts off, with no vote recorded.

Key Actions

·Wildfire Resiliency Grant MoneyAction

+ 1 more action

Notable Quotes

I'm here opposing the bill because it's misleading. The connection to wildfire that's made in this bill is frankly absurd. Riparian areas, which is where beavers live, occupy 1% of this state's land area.

Rick Cables, former USFS Regional Forester and CPW Director (witness) · witnessCables, who once ran both the Forest Service region and CPW, was the sharpest voice attacking the bill's core premise that protecting beavers is a wildfire mitigation strategy.

+ 4 more quotes

Votes

Postponed indefinitely — bill killedAction
Yes (10)Lori Garcia Sander, Lori Goldstein, Dusty Johnson, Meghan Lukens, Lesley Smith, Katie Stewart, Larry Don Suckla, Ty Winter, Tisha Mauro, Karen McCormick
No (3)Mandy Lindsay, Matthew Martinez, Tammy Story
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TranscriptPreview
House Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Committee will come to order. Ms. Kelly, please call the roll. Representatives Garcia, Sander. Present. Goldstein. Here. Johnson. Here. Lindsey. Here. Lukens. Here. Martinez. Here. Smith. Here. Stewart. Here. Story? Here. Sukla. Here. Winter. Here. Tomorrow excused. Madam Chair. Here. Great. Thank you all for joining us this afternoon. We are hearing two bills today we're hearing House Bill 1323 first which is wildfire resiliency, prohibiting taking of beavers. We do have, for those of you in the room and listening, we do have an overflow room right next door, room 109. If you are here for House Bill 1310, feel free to be in that room if you'd like. There is a street live stream happening and you can hear all the goings on in this room. If you get a little too stuffy or crowded in here, there is that overflow room. So with that we'll start with our bill sponsors on 1323. Representative Lindsey thank you Madam Chair. Thank you. My home committee spend a lot of time sitting next to you. Happy to see your faces from a different perspective. But good afternoon Rep. Velasco and I thank you for
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