Czech government plans dam for 7 years, beavers build it in two days
castorIn the Czech Republic, beavers built a dam in two days, which local authorities had planned for 7 years
they were having trouble getting it through red tape restoring beavers to northern UK and then somehow they got in on their own, and being a critical protected species nothing was to be done about them
But at what cost?
Probably about 14 beaver × days of labor and an assortment of free and easily recyclable rocks, trees, and mud. In the US we pay our mentally handicapped about food server wage and heavily discriminate against undocumented workers. Even though it'd cost us $1.2 million to do it ourselves, the best we can do for these beavers is about three-fiddy.
joint beaver-orca-JDPON alliance when
I watched some documentary about an attempt to restore wetlands from a previously drained agricultural area that had been put into conservation.
the restoration project process was being frustrated by beavers, who kept building dams in old weirs and channels that would potentially cause catastrophic flooding if some old berms gave way when too much water was held back. there wasn't enough money to make the huge changes to the earthworks necessary to diffuse the danger of catastrophe, nor was there enough labor to clear the beaver dams faster than the beavers could rebuild them.
so basically they had to figure out a behavioral way to get the beavers to want to build their dams where it would help the larger project, which ended up being through the use of speakers playing the sound of running water near where they wanted the beavers to build.
once they realized that, the conservation efforts rapidly converted the area back to wetlands at almost no cost by working with the beaver instincts and finding a common ground.
There's a ton of hoopla in my town about some old busted dams that need to be removed for safety reasons and the way that might affect the small lakes they created when built 100 years ago. I have been saying all along they just need to pop a couple beavers in there (who are having a slow comeback in my region already) and let them do it.
Yes haha yes! One of my personal interests is “engineering WITHIN nature” (ie mostly what can we “unfuck” to an improved state of balance) and that can involve lots of beavers! 🦫 anyway enjoy some of my favorite beav-sites! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_drop https://yewtu.be/watch?v=rrOE-m7sX9E
https://qcnr.usu.edu/beaver-restoration/partnering-with-beaver https://yewtu.be/watch?v=2_cml_cXPmE
https://www.wlfw.org/natures-engineers-how-beavers-boost-streamflows-and-restore-habitat/
https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/features/firefighting-beavers
https://emilyfairfaxscience.com/research/firebeavers/ https://www.nasw.org/article/let-beavers-do-work-fighting-wildfire-one-dam-time
https://www.fws.gov/media/beaver-restoration-guidebook
https://www.beaverinstitute.org/get-beaver-help/damaged-streams/
Timberborn playthrough is going well.
No gods, no specs, no concrete fucking dams
Field-fit engineering stays winning
One of the things that I like about this story is that one of the very good reasons it takes a long time to plan a dam is that you need to keep an eye on the environmental impact on animals, such as beavers.
Beavers: "what are you, silly? I'm still gonna send it!"
They didn’t have to go back to beaver congress to ask for funding, or make sure the correct beaver-reps’ fail children get the construction contract. Or they didn’t have to spend 80 beaver-hrs building a more profitable beaver-project before they could do something that actually benefits their beaver-community. Or sit around arguing if climate change is too scawey for some beavers to engage with. Maybe it’s because there’s no beaver-bourgeoisie 🤔
if I could be an animal I would want to be a beaver. they're such cool animals, definitely my favorite of keystone species
this video has some cool footage from inside a lodge, including how other animals hunker down in the lodge with beavers in a synergistic way https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyNA62FrKCE
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
I love everything about this story.
BOBER