Federal government backs more habitat for beavers

More than 50 years after the European beaver was reintroduced to Switzerland, the federal government has issued a guide on how to co-exist with the animal, whose population expansion is raising concerns from farmers.

Hunters exterminated the beaver from the country 200 years ago, but a reintroduction campaign begun in 1956 has borne fruit.

The campaign was branded a “success story of Swiss species protection,” in the "Living with the beaver" guide, published on the Internet on Thursday by the federal environment department.

“Following years of slow population growth, 1,600 beavers now populate our water courses again,” the 158-page publication says.

The current numbers may actually be a bit higher, since the estimate is based on a census conducted in 2007-08.

A census conducted in 1978 found just 130 animals.

Now they extend from Geneva in the western end of the country, where 63 were counted in the census, to Graubünden, where just one beaver was found, a creature who is suspected of hopping across the eastern border from Austria.

With proof of a healthier population, authorities have subsequently downgraded the status of the beaver in Switzerland from “critically endangered” to “vulnerable”.

But new challenges arise from the fact that the semi-aquatic rodent has already occupied a high proportion of watercourses “favourable for their colonization,” the report says.

Young beavers starting new colonies find themselves moving into areas where their activities collide with those of farmers and home owners.

The largest populations are found in the Swiss central plateau.

But the beaver has gradually extended its range from major rivers and lakes in 1993 to establish 170 colonies on small tributaries and 32 on “stagnant water bodies with an area of less than one hectare,” according to the report.

For an expanding population, many of the watercourses do not have enough space to allow beavers to pursue their activities without being disturbed - and without disturbing others.

The animals are known for using their sharp teeth to chop down trees which they use to build dams, canals and their homes, known as lodges.

The dams create a habitat for beaver colonies with deep water to protect against predators.

Dams in the wrong place are, of course, a recipe for trouble.  

As Swisster reported in December 2009, the cantonal government of Bern authorized the shooting of beavers in a region where the animal was just reintroduced 12 years ago.

The animals are damaging irrigation canals and flooding fields designated for crops in the Grand Marais area of Seeland, near the Jura Mountains and the city of Biel (Bienne).

Shooting the animals is a last-resort measure, introduced as part of a management plan that the government says follows strict legal, environmental, economic and technical guidelines.

But the policy was met immediately with a hostile response from animal groups and nature lovers.

The federal parliament last year proposed legislation, subject to a referendum, for the protection and use of water courses that gives cantons the tools to provide needed space for beavers to avoid conflicts.

The proposal counters a popular “living waters” initiative, which will also go to a national vote.

It aims to minimize the impacts of locks and dams used by hydro-electric generating stations, revitalize bodies of water by returning them whenever possible to their natural state and removing obstacles to the migration of fish.

The plan aims to allow the cantons to restore 4,000 kilometres of water courses over the next 80 years, with 40 million francs in annual funding from the federal government.

“The ensemble of measures will permit in the future the durable resolution of conflicts in numerous cases, thanks to the creation of new habitat for the beaver”.

The environment department says the flat-tailed creatures can play an important ecological role.

“As an important keystone species of water courses, the beaver can help us . . . to restore (them) to a more natural state,” the report says.

Furthermore, “this species directly fosters biodiversity through its wide range of activities.”

Future planning for the beaver has to take into account the fact that a quarter of water courses in Switzerland are totally artificial, altered or channeled into pipes.

Urban development and intensified agricultural practices have also put pressures on the  country’s aquatic systems.

The report points out that improving the habitat for beavers can also be beneficial for humans.

Beavers need “free areas” along water courses to carry out their activities, but society also benefits from such sanctuaries, the environment department report says.

The areas reduce the input of nitrogen and pesticides into bodies of water, while providing habitat and migration corridors for other species.

As well, such zones provide retention areas in the event of flooding and naturally flowing water courses “provide recreation space for people,” the report says.

Most importantly for the beaver, the establishment of free areas helps prevent conflicts with human activities, it concludes.