Trump gets Harder bill aimed at ‘swamp rats’ threatening Central Valley waterways
Congress has given final approval to a bill that would take on nutria, a giant rodent threatening waterways in the Central Valley and beyond.
The bill, by Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, passed the U.S. Senate unanimously on Wednesday, Sept. 30. The House of Representatives approved it without opposition in February.
The bill now goes to President Donald Trump, who has indicated support, Harder spokesman Ian Lee said by email Friday. When it will be signed is unclear, as Trump has been hospitalized since Friday with mild COVID-19 symptoms.
The measure, HR 3399, would provide $12 million to California and several other affected states for nutria control, research and related efforts.
“This is a win for everyone,” Harder said in a news release. “Farmers can sleep better knowing their crops and water infrastructure are safe, and environmentalists can be happy that the native plants and animals being destroyed by these swamp rats will survive.”
Invasion started with fur trade
Nutria first came to the United States as part of the fur trade in the early 1900s, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. They were eradicated in the 1970s but detected again in 2017.
Nutria can weigh up to 25 pounds, and one breeding pair can lead to as many as 16,000 offspring over three years. They consume native vegetation and can tunnel into levees and canals.
More than 1,600 nutria have been captured in the Central Valley in the past few years, the news release said. Most were in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta or its lower tributaries.
Nutria also infest areas along the Gulf Coast, Chesapeake Bay, the Pacific Northwest and several other places. The bill had bipartisan support from those regions.
Harder plunged in, literally
Harder donned waders for a July 2019 visit with nutria experts on the San Joaquin River near Newman. He brought a stuffed specimen along when speaking this past February on the House floor.
“We proved that you can still get things done in Washington by working across the aisle – even if it takes bringing a dead rat to the floor of Congress,” Harder said.
His Republican allies included Rep. Garret Graves, from a Louisiana district beset by nutria. He, too, expected Trump to sign the measure.
‘With this swift action from the Commander in Chief, the states will have the resources needed to fight back the invasive species that accelerate the destruction of coastal wetlands,” Graves said in the Harder release.
This story was originally published October 4, 2020 at 12:17 PM.
