Latest news with #BohumilFišer
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Beavers save the day after officials delay critical construction project for years: 'Absolutely fantastic'
"Nature finds a way" is a phrase frequently used to describe the resilience of the natural world. Apparently, there are also instances in which it can be used to describe the natural world's ability to complete government-sanctioned building projects in record time. A dam-building project in the Czech Republic has been in the works since 2018 but hasn't gone any further than conceptual discussions. Delays over land negotiations threw a bureaucratic wrench into the gears, according to the Guardian. The project was intended to protect critically endangered crayfish in the Klabava River by blocking overflow from nearby ponds. Given these intentions, one would hope those dams were built sooner rather than later. If it weren't for the local beaver population, "later" was the only item on the menu. Do you think America has a plastic waste problem? Definitely Only in some areas Not really I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Imagine the project planners' surprise when they found those aforementioned beavers had already done their work for them. They even went above and beyond the project's specifications, building four dams (and counting) while also creating a wetland with pools and canals. "It's full service: beavers are absolutely fantastic and when they are in an area where they can't cause damage, they do a brilliant job," said Bohumil Fišer of the Czech Nature Conservation Agency, according to the Guardian. Not only did these amazing rodent engineers complete the project for the Czech government, but they did it all for free. That adds up to an estimated $1.2 million in savings for the nation's taxpayers. This isn't the only instance of beavers doing Mother Nature's work. A Scottish project to reintroduce them into the Knapdale rainforests may have saved the endangered water vole population. Licensed beaver releases in England have also reinvigorated local ecosystems and helped prevent flooding. These areas flourished with plant and animal life long ago thanks to the wetland environments created by beaver dams but suffered when the creatures were hunted to near extinction. Their unique dam-building trait is an amazing example of the way one single species can serve as a linchpin for entire ecosystems. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
New York Times
12-02-2025
- General
- New York Times
Czech Dam Project Was Stalled by Bureaucracy. Beavers Built Their Own.
For years, officials in the Czech Republic had pushed a dam project to protect a river south of Prague, and the critically endangered species living in it. But the project, hamstrung by land negotiations, stalled. In the meantime, a group of chisel-toothed mammals — renowned for their engineering skills and work ethic, and unencumbered by bureaucracy — decided to take on the task. The beavers of Prague simply built dams themselves. The rodents' fast work saved the local authorities some 1.2 million euros, according to a news release from the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, a government agency responsible for conservation across the country. 'Nature took its course,' Bohumil Fišer, the head of the Brdy Protected Landscape Area, where the revitalization project was planned, said in the statement. The beavers, he added, had created the ideal environmental conditions 'practically overnight.' The project, on a former army site on the Klabava, a river about 40 miles southwest of Prague, the Czech capital, was drafted in 2018 and had a building permit, but had been delayed for years by negotiations over the land, which had been used as a military training grounds, Agence France-Presse reported on Tuesday. Officials had hoped to build a barrier to protect the river and its population of critically endangered crayfish from sediment and acidic water spilling over from two nearby ponds, A.F.P. reported. The beavers began working before the excavators could even break ground. It was not immediately clear specifically when the dams were built and how long it took to build them. The new wetland created by the dams covers nearly five acres, the conservation group said. It is twice as large as the area that the humans had planned, Agence France-Presse reported. 'It's full service,' Mr. Fišer told A.F.P. 'Beavers are absolutely fantastic and when they are in an area where they can't cause damage, they do a brilliant job.' Despite their remarkable ability to construct dams, beavers often draw the ire of landowners and farmers for destroying trees, eating crops and flooding roads and fields. But in thinning a tree canopy, the rodents can often help to diversify an ecosystem by allowing in sunlight in so that other plant species can thrive, said Emily Fairfax, an assistant professor of ecology at the University of Minnesota. 'They're fundamentally changing the way water and life moves through that landscape,' she said. To build a dam, the beavers, whose weight as adults can range from about 40 to 80 pounds, begin by piling small stones across a river or stream, packing those stones in with mud, and repeating the process to construct a pond, which they then expand to become a wetland, Dr. Fairfax said. They are motivated by their fear of predators: Beavers are adept swimmers and can hold their breath underwater for 15 minutes. On land, their ungainly waddle makes them easy prey. 'They're basically a big chicken nugget for predators,' which include bears, mountain lions and wolves, she said. The Czech dam is not the first time the rodents have assisted in building a wetland. Beavers in California have helped to restore a floodplain about 30 miles northeast of Sacramento. In that case, the beavers' work also helped local officials save money. 'All they had to do was let the beavers be there,' Dr. Fairfax said. In other cases, beavers often did work that went unacknowledged. 'We sort of have a blindness for beavers,' she said, noting that they were often considered a nuisance because of their alarming size and capacity to rapidly change the landscape. 'They're powerful, they're big, and they're elusive,' Dr. Fairfax said, noting that, despite the beavers' engineering prowess, they presented a challenge for conservation groups when planning restoration projects. 'Oftentimes we don't want to allow the beavers to make the choices, because it's hard to plan around that uncertainty; it's hard to turn over control to a giant water rodent,' she said. 'But that's when beavers are at their best.'
The Guardian
11-02-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Beavers save Czech taxpayers £800m by flooding ex-army training site
Beavers have saved Czech taxpayers $1m (£800m) by flooding a protected former army training site where a long-stalled dam was planned. Officials had hoped to build a barrier to shield the Klabava River and its population of critically endangered crayfish from sediment and acidic water spilling over from two nearby ponds. As a bonus it would turn a part of this protected area south of the capital, Prague, into a nature-rich wetland. First drafted in 2018, the project had a building permit but was delayed by negotiations over the land, long used by the military as training grounds. Yet before the excavators got the green light to begin digging, the herbivorous rodents set to work building a dam of their own. Bohumil Fišer from the Czech Nature Conservation Agency told AFP: 'They built a wetland with pools and canals. The area is roughly twice larger than planned.' The beaver family then moved on to a gulley encircling the ponds, in which the conservationists wanted to build little dams to allow overspill that would help flood the area. Among nature's great engineers, beavers have long been championed by environmentalists for their ability to protect against flooding, improve water quality and boost wildlife. So far the beavers have built at least four dams in the gulley and are currently working on more. Fišer, who manages the area, said: 'We were only discussing [building the dams in the gulleys] with the water company and the forest company which owns the land.' He said the estimated savings to the Czech purse reached 30m Czech koruna (£1m). Fišer said: 'It's full service: beavers are absolutely fantastic and when they are in an area where they can't cause damage, they do a brilliant job.' Despite the good beavers do to the land around them, the rodents have their critics, with farmers and others complaining of the destruction they cause by felling trees. But any farmers whose land could be at risk are located far from the site, which was declared a protected area in 2016. Fišer said: 'We don't expect any conflict with the beaver in the next 10 years.'
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Beavers finish seven-year dam project in two days
A colony of beavers has saved the Czech government almost £1 million after completing a stalled dam project themselves. Despite a seven-year planning process and successfully securing the funding, the Czech Republic's plans to build a new dam in the Brdy region came to a standstill as authorities struggled to acquire building permits. However, it was the arrival of eight hard-working beavers that finally got the job done. Speaking to Radio Prague, Jaroslav Obermajer, head of the Central Bohemian office of the Czech Nature and Landscape Protection Agency, said: 'Beavers always know best.' Using their powerful incisors, the semi-aquatic rodents fell trees to create wetland areas – known as 'beaver ponds' – which they then use as sources of food and protection from predators. The human project had aimed to restore the area to its natural state, decades after soldiers at a military base built a bypass gully which had drained the area. According to the Brdy Protected Land Administration (PLA), which was managing the human project, the beavers constructed dams in almost the same spots that constructions were planned. 'The Military Forest Management and the Vltava River Basin were negotiating with each other to set up the project and address issues regarding ownership of land. The beavers beat them to it, saving us CZK 30 million (£994,000),' said Bohumil Fišer, the Brdy PlA chief. 'They built the dams without any project documentation and for free.' Mr Obermajor added: 'The places where they build dams are always chosen just right — better than when we design it on paper.' Ecologists tasked with inspecting the dams have said they will last a long time and create good conditions for the rare stone crayfish, frogs, and other species that thrive on wetlands. 'We are already seeing the emergence of a small pond and surrounding wetland there,' the PLA said in a statement, adding that the eight beavers were still hard at work creating new wetlands. Beavers are 'ecosystem engineers' meaning they modify their environment to create resources, and their dams can stretch for miles. The largest beaver dam recorded is in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada, stretching the length of seven football fields – so big it is even visible from space. In another case, when beavers built dams on the property of a large stormwater treatment facility in Oregon, scientists discovered that the animals' structures were able to filter out heavy metals and other pollutants about twice as effectively as the human-built structures. In 2023, California introduced a beaver-assisted restoration programme so the animals could create a healthy ecosystem for other animals, replenish groundwater and even provide wildfire protection. In the UK, where beavers were once hunted to extinction for their fur and a natural secretion called castoreum which is used for perfumes and medicines, they have also now been successfully reintroduced. A trial in Devon between 2015 to 2020 saw the first wild breeding of beavers in 400 years. 'Beaver wetlands are a paradise for many animals and plants. They are stable ecosystems that contribute to the diversity of our landscape,' said the PLA. 'Beavers are returning the landscape altered by humans to its natural beauty.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Beavers finish seven-year dam project in two days
A colony of beavers has saved the Czech government almost £1 million after completing a stalled dam project themselves. Despite a seven-year planning process and successfully securing the funding, the Czech Republic's plans to build a new dam in the Brdy region came to a standstill as authorities struggled to acquire building permits. However, it was the arrival of eight hard-working beavers that finally got the job done. Speaking to Radio Prague, Jaroslav Obermajer, head of the Central Bohemian office of the Czech Nature and Landscape Protection Agency, said: 'Beavers always know best.' Using their powerful incisors, the semi-aquatic rodents fell trees to create wetland areas – known as 'beaver ponds' – which they then use as sources of food and protection from predators. The human project had aimed to restore the area to its natural state, decades after soldiers at a military base built a bypass gully which had drained the area. According to the Brdy Protected Land Administration (PLA), which was managing the human project, the beavers constructed dams in almost the same spots that constructions were planned. 'The beavers beat [us] to it, saving us CZK 30 million (£994,000),' said Bohumil Fišer, the Brdy PLA chief. 'They built the dams without any project documentation and for free.' Ecologists tasked with inspecting the dams have said they will last a long time and create good conditions for the rare stone crayfish, frogs, and other species that thrive on wetlands. 'We are already seeing the emergence of a small pond and surrounding wetland there,' the PLA said in a statement, adding that the eight beavers were still hard at work creating new wetlands. Beavers are 'ecosystem engineers' meaning they modify their environment to create resources, and their dams can stretch for miles. The largest beaver dam recorded is in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada, stretching the length of seven football fields – so big it is even visible from space. In another case, when beavers built dams on the property of a large stormwater treatment facility in Oregon, scientists discovered that the animals' structures were able to filter out heavy metals and other pollutants about twice as effectively as the human-built structures. 'Beaver wetlands are a paradise for many animals and plants. They are stable ecosystems that contribute to the diversity of our landscape,' said the PLA. 'Beavers are returning the landscape altered by humans to its natural beauty.'
