About Management Programme of beavers in the Czech Republic
Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic in cooperation with the Faculty of Environmental Science of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague drew up Management Programme for the Eurasian beaver in the Czech Republic (Vorel et al. 2013), which was approved in 2013. The objective of Programme is to create permanently viable beaver population in our territory, including the creation of conditions for natural communication of sub-populations. The key point of the Programme is to ensure the socioeconomic sustainability of the beaver occurrence, especially in terms of impacts on all activities within landscape (e.g. agriculture, forestry, etc.). More information on conservation programmes can be found here.
For the purposes of fulfilling the objectives of Management Programme, the Czech Republic has been divided into three zones with varying degrees of protection:
A-zone – the zone with the highest level of beaver protection. It is the territory covering Sites of Community Importance included in the Natura 2000 network, where is the Eurasian beaver a subject of protection (further information on the Natura 2000 network is available here). The main task in the A-zone is to ensure long-term stable development of the population in different types of environment within the Czech Republic. Any intervention there should be individually assessed against the need to preserve a favourable state of the species. The A-zone covers 0.9% of the Czech Republic and includes: SCI Labské údolí, SCI Kateřinský a Nivní potok, SCI Niva Dyje, SCI Soutok – Podluží, SCI Strážnická Morava, SCI Morava – Chropyňský luh and SCI Litovelské Pomoraví.
B-zone – the transition zone between the A-zone and the C-zone. The continued existence of the species is ensured in the B-zone, but at the same time it is possible to apply measures to prevent and minimize damage. The B-zone covers 85.9% of the area of the Czech Republic.
C-zone – area with a high concentration of risk locations in terms of possibility of very severe damage caused by beavers. If there is growth in the beaver population in the C-zone, it is possible to assume enormous risk of damage. That is why the presence of beavers is totally undesirable there and in case of their occurrence their elimination will be allowed. The C-zone occupies 13.2% of the area of the Czech Republic and includes South Bohemian pond basins and their surrounding which is for beavers bordered by natural or artificial migration barriers. The area of the Šumava National Park is excluded from the C-zone and belongs to the transition B-zone.