CHARLES HAND

For The Californian

RIVERSIDE -- A Riverside County Superior Court judge Friday kept alive a lawsuit seeking a ban on the trapping of beavers at Lake Skinner.

Gloria Connor Trask rejected an argument by the California Department of Fish and Game that the suit by Friends of Lake Skinner Wildlife is moot because of an agreement by the lake's owner, Metropolitan Water District, to seek no more permits to trap the beavers.

"We're not certain why they're pursuing this case," said Fish and Game spokesman Troy Swauger. "Metropolitan … said it will not do more trapping."

Trask set Aug. 3 as her deadline for issuing a ruling on the issues remaining in the case. The sides may be called to make additional oral arguments on that day or she may issue a ruling before then and mail it to the attorneys, she said.

The lawsuit arose out of efforts nearly three years ago by Fish and Game to trap and move about 20 beavers, which are not native to the lake. The beavers were destroying habitat used by the endangered least Bell's vireo. Fifteen beavers eventually were caught. Two died in traps and the rest were shipped to zoos from Big Bear to Texas.

The issue remaining is whether Fish and Game should issue trapping permits in the future and, if they do, whether the California Environmental Quality Act should govern decisions on the permits. A question on which both of those issues hang is whether there are still beavers in the lake.

Two wildlife biologists testified Friday that they found no beavers when they visited the lake recently. However, Mitchell Wagner, the attorney representing Friends of Lake Skinner Wildlife, said the biologists visited only dry areas and did not check the lodge where they said beavers were living last year.

Wagner contends the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled in a case brought by the wildlife group that the presence of even one beaver in the lake keeps the case open, even if Metropolitan has said it will ask for no more trapping permits.

Swauger, however, said Fish and Game will not issue a trapping permit unless the landowner -- Metropolitan -- asks for one. He contended that makes the issue moot.

Wagner argued that Metropolitan does not have to ask for a permit to revive trapping. He said the Resource Management Committee, a consortium of groups that manages Lake Skinner, can seek another trapping permit without Metropolitan's participation.

Wagner said he has doubts about Fish and Game's intentions because the department did not join in the out-of-court settlement in which Metropolitan agreed to end trapping.

That becomes an issue, Wagner said, because a Fish and Game study stated the lake houses 40 to 60 beavers, which will eventually return to the protected area. A Fish and Game biologist testified Friday though that the report referred to the lake's beaver capacity, not its actual population.

"There's no way around it. They've got a long-term management problem."

6/30/01