Activity 1

Manual on solving problematic situations caused by beavers (measure 3.5.1 of Management Programme for the Eurasian Beaver in the Czech Republic).

 

The aim of this activity was to create a functional manual, which provides users whose land has been affected by beavers with a proposal for resolving conflict situations caused by beavers. 

 

The beaver is an animal which can significantly modify surrounding of rivers and waterways. Beavers ensure their basic living needs by felling trees, digging burrows and constructing dams. In landscape where human activity is not intense and riparian zones of waterways are economically exploited only minimally, beaver activity has mostly significantly positive effect – biodiversity increases provably, there are accumulation and retention of water in the landscape, and diversification of a bank line. However, beaver activities may cause various conflict situations in a landscape cultivated by a man, e.g. disruption of stability of dams, endangering of production forests, water logging of infrastructure elements and production areas, changes in runoff conditions, etc.

 

The prospective handbook will serve to solve the conflict situations mentioned above. Particular situations and possible solutions will be described in details. The handbook will also contain information about Management Programme for the Eurasian Beaver, legislation related to the issue, economic instruments dealing with damage including preventive actions, and last but not least, there will also be a summary on the biology and ecology of beavers. For each intervention it will provide appropriate and inappropriate implementation period, financial estimates, estimation of efficiency, conditions under which it is possible to implement particular interventions (exceptions, reporting obligation, etc.), and also necessity and scope of regular maintenance.

 

 

A final form of the handbook is available for free download here.

 

Examples of actions against beavers:

 

an electric fence                       drainage of a  beaver dam

 

 

Examples of damage caused by beavers:

 

damage to production forests                 damage in an orchard