Nutria

Want to get involved in restoring the coast? Participate in our nutria control program! The nutria, Myocastor coypus, is a large semi-aquatic rodent invasive to Louisiana's coastal wetlands. Nutria are smaller than a beaver but larger than a muskrat and were brought to Louisiana in the 1930's for their fur. Once nutria were released from the fur farms they decimated marshlands by over-grazing. Nutria reproduce very quickly and their population numbers spread across the coast, weakening the coastal wetlands that were already threatened by coastal land loss.

To combat this invasive species, CWPPRA established the Coastwide Nutria Control Program in 2002. The goal of the program is to remove up to 400,000 nutria each trapping season from coastal Louisiana to reduce nutria-induced marsh damage. This program is managed by U.S Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. To incentive the harvesting of nutria, the Coastwide Nutria Control Program will pay licensed trappers a bounty of $6/nutria tail.

Want to learn more about the Coastwide Nutria Control Program? Check out the project factsheet.

Do you have what it takes to trap nutria and help save the coast? Check out the program website at nutria.com to learn the requirements of becoming a nutria trapper.

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