Tackling human-beaver conflicts in Slovenia and Croatia

The European beaver was almost extinct in most of the European countries at the beginning of the 20^th century, after hundreds of years of hunting and habitat loss. In the last few decades, it is successfully returning to its native habitats. During that time beavers also lost their “social habitat”. Beavers are viewed by some as pests, as their natural behaviour can be seen as disruptive by foresters, landowners, and farmers. But there are ways for this vital and ecologically significant creature to coexist with its human neighbours.

LIFE Beaver

The LIFE BEAVER (LIFE with the beaver, wetlands, and climate change LIFE19 GIE/SI/001111) project welcomes the return of beavers to Slovenia and Croatia. The project is run by the Lutra Institute for Conservation of Natural Heritage, along with partners in the Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb, the Slovenian Forestry Institute, and the Museum of Ivanić-Grad in Croatia. Its key goal of the project is to reduce human-beaver conflicts, implement good management techniques to improve beaver and water management, and raise awareness about beavers’ role as a keystone species, and their importance in maintaining ecosystem services and mitigating climate change. 

To promote awareness and implement good management practices, 36 workshops and consultations for relevant stakeholders were organized. Experts from across Europe and North America have been involved in preparations for this project, sharing their expertise and techniques from successful beaver-human coexistence projects in their own countries. 

"We would like to emphasize above all the importance of this project in bringing good beaver management techniques to this part of Europe, which will have consequences and advantages not only in Slovenia and Croatia, but also in neighbouring countries and in other Balkan countries, where such practices are not yet in use." Martina Vida, Project manager - LUTRA, Institute for Conservation of Natural Heritage

Beavers and Flooding

As a keystone species, beavers have a significant impact on local ecosystems. Their dam building creates wetlands and ponds, which boost biodiversity, improve water quality, and alter water flow, which can reduce downstream flooding. These new wetland areas can also increase water retention, releasing it slowly back into the surrounding soil and waterways, thus strengthening resistant against droughts. However, the dams can cause small-scale localised water accumulation in their immediate vicinity, occasionally impacting human activity in the surrounding area. 

People often opt for the destruction of dams as an easy way to counter this. On project sites where this might occur, pipes at 10 different locations have been installed. The pipes help lower the water level and reduce flooding. The installations also ensure that the water depth upstream from the dam never drops below 80cm, thus maintaining enough space for the beavers. Camera traps have been installed to monitor the effectiveness of these solutions. 

With the demonstration of good practices, LIFE Beaver aims to teach people that it is possible to coexist with beavers, and that they can help us fight against droughts and floods. They have an important role providing numerous ecosystem services, if we let them play their part. As the project continues, the economic benefit of ecosystem services provided by beavers and wetlands they maintain and create will be analysed. This can serve as important data for decision making on future policies regarding beavers, freshwater management, climate mitigation and agricultural policies.

#WaterWiseEU campaign 

This story has been submitted by a partner of the #WaterWiseEU campaign. The EU-wide campaign focuses on water resilience, aiming to change the way we see, use and value water. Find out more about the campaign and how you can get involved.