Beavers Engineer Long-Delayed Czech Wetlands Project

A colony of eight beavers in the Czech Republic have flooded and built dams on a former army training site that is now a protected area, saving taxpayers $1.2 million, reported AFP.

Officials had wanted to construct a dam to protect endangered crayfish in the Klabava River from acidic water and sediment spilling into the waterway from two nearby ponds.

“Beavers always know best. The places where they build dams are always chosen just right – better than when we design it on paper,” Jaroslav Obermajer, Central Bohemian office head at the Czech Nature and Landscape Protection Agency, told Radio Prague International.

Administrators of the Brdy Protected Landscape Area project — first drafted in 2018 — had been dealing with bureaucratic issues while trying to obtain building permits from authorities when they discovered that the wetlands plan had been completed by local beavers.

“Beavers are able to build a dam in one night, two nights at the most. While people have to get building permits, get the building project approved, and find the money for it. But of course a digger working on his own could build it in about a week,” said zoologist Jiri Vlček.

After plans stalled for a new dam in the Czech Republic, eight beavers saved the day seemingly overnight. “At this point, nothing that beavers do surprises me.” www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti…

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— Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 9:35 PM

Environmentalists who came to inspect the European beavers’ work said the pools they created will provide good conditions for wetlands species like frogs and the rare stone crayfish. They will also improve water quality.

Beavers are semi-aquatic “ecosystem engineers” who use mud, rocks and wood to block streams. This creates “beaver ponds” that the rodents use as food sources and to protect them from predators, reported National Geographic.

Their ingenious structures create habitat for other species as well, including fish, insects, amphibians, herons, whooping cranes, bison and moose. They can also serve as firebreaks and carbon sinks.

“They built a wetland with pools and canals. The area is roughly twice larger than planned,” Bohumil Fišer, who heads the Brdy Protected Landscape Area and works with the Czech Nature Conservation Agency, told AFP.

The beavers have so far constructed at least four dams south of Prague and are working to build more.

While there are some critics, such as farmers who complain of the beavers felling trees, there is no farmland near the site, which sits in an area that was designated as protected in 2016.

“We don’t expect any conflict with the beaver in the next 10 years,” Fišer said.