Beavers in Southern Patagonia

Tierra del Fuego is a large island encompassing parts of Chile and Argentina, so that policies and actions to control the species have mainly been binational.

[citation needed] The animals have spread beyond Tierra del Fuego itself into the Brunswick Peninsula of Chile, and the government fears further penetration into continental South America.

[6] Ecologist Christopher Anderson, professor at the Universidad de Magallanes, has said, "The change in the forested portion of this biome is the largest landscape-level alteration in the Holocene – that is, approximately 10,000 years".

[7] A 2017 survey of Tierra del Fuego land managers and researchers showed significant support for eradicating beavers and restoring the landscape.

Impacts include the flooding of roads and farmland, as well as the destruction of internet and cell service poles,[citation needed] and livestock fences.

[20] In 2008, Chile and Argentina passed binational legislation, Resolution 157/10, that ended the policy of population control and called for complete eradication of the species from Tierra del Fuego.

[21] This was passed in accordance with research conducted by scientists from nations like the United States and New Zealand that found that this method was possible but expensive, costing an estimated $33 million.

[6] That same year, government officials announced plans to bring in professional trappers, using dogs, helicopters and boats to move in rolling fronts.

[23] As of 2011 the emphasis in the Tierra del Fuego National Park was on control, not on eradication, as killing of invasives was disfavoured for animal welfare reasons.