Well this is pleasant to come across. I’m not exactly sure who to thank but we know Gerhard Schwab had something to do with it.
One of Luxembourg’s biggest nature conservationists works tirelessly all-year round for no salary–the beaver. Its co-workers at the nature and forestry administration talk about why the return of the beaver is so critical for biodiversity.
Beavering away for biodiversity
Thanks to efforts to reintroduce the European beaver into neighbouring countries and forbid hunting, their numbers have swelled to between 600-800 in Luxembourg, going from nine reported sites, or families, in 2009, to 80 today. That is good news, and not just if you’re a beaver.
“Beavers have the biggest impact of any species on biodiversity,” says Alexander Kristiansen, who manages a team in the field for the ANF. “We say a beaver is like a Dutch engineer, with their dams, a Norwegian lumberjack and a Portuguese worker. They know exactly how to scan the landscape and, with the smallest effort, build a dam to flood a few hectares.”
Wow. High praise for the beaver indeed. You people are doing an excellent job. But truly. I would expect no less. Look at this photo. They are naturalists sent straight from central casting. I honestly can’t decide which one I want to date first.
The dams, he explains, are their habitat: beavers feel safe in water and they need to build up the level so that the entrance to their lodge is submerged. From the dam they might also build a canal to a tree along which they can float back wood. “Once you build a dam, areas get flooded, trees die, birds nest in those trees and they become like insect hotels. You have different vegetation that is good for fish and that filters water,” Kristiansen explains. They are even beneficial at limiting the impact of natural floods—because the dams slow the flow of water further down the line. “Even half a metre can make a big difference,” says Jacobs.
The accolade “keystone species” makes sense and yet beavers remain massively misunderstood in Luxembourg, which is why the ANF does a lot of awareness raising work.
Boy you sure make beavers sound good. How do the 12 other people in Luxembourg feel about them?
For the most part, the beaver gets good pretty good PR thanks to their appearance. “No-one fears the beaver. To us they look cute, and it makes it easier to protect them,” says Jacobs.
Nevertheless, there are tensions. Around 15 years ago a beaver community in Larochette was poisoned. Uninformed people mistakenly act out of fear that beavers will chop down all of the trees, or deprive fishermen of fish–never mind that beavers are vegetarian.
The biggest real risk to people is tunnelling, which may cause sinkage on farmland or trees to fall on roads or rail tracks. In these instances, Kristiansen will seek a solutions through compensation incentives to not farm the tract of land beside a waterway for instance, or buying land.
You are simply not going to believe this. I don’t believe it and I write about beavers every day and have done since the Bush years. Are you sitting down?
The best solutions involve landowners engaging in some way, like by planting a crop beavers can feed on. A farmer who followed this advice “took his family to see the beavers and now they love them. That’s the best strategy, when you take the children and their eyes are shining and then the father can’t say anything,” Kristiansen smiles.
So let me get this straight. The beaver is upsetting a farmer by tunneling into their crop or causing flooding. And a country the size of postage stamp actually PAYS them to plant a crop that the beavers want, like willow, on that floody field because they realize its SO GOOD FOR THE NATION to keep beavers that they find the funds and just do it.
I need to sit down. I feel faint.
The last lake at Kockelscheuer is a well-established beaver site. Otherwise, download the inaturalist app and enter “castor” (French for beaver) in the search engine to find reported beaver sites. The best time to spot a beaver from afar is in the autumn when there is less vegetation and therefore sites are more accessible.
Some day,
Mark my words. Some day California will pay farmers to keep beavers on their land because they do so much for water storage and biodiversity and FIRE PREVENTION.
Someday it will happen. I know it will.
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