Officials surprised to find major public works project completed by wild animals: 'Better than when we design it on paper'

Nature stepped in after a crucial project in the Czech Republic stalled, surprising local authorities and saving them the equivalent of nearly $1.5 million.

As reported by Radio Prague International, a beaver colony in the Brdy region became an overnight sensation when officials realized the creatures had built a dam exactly where they needed it.

"Beavers always know best. The places where they build dams are always chosen just right — better than when we design it on paper," said Jaroslav Obermajer, head of the Central Bohemian office of the Czech Nature and Landscape Protection Agency, or AOPK.

Despite the beavers' sudden fame, Gerhard Schwab, the Federal Nature Conservation Association's beaver manager for the southern part of Bavaria, told National Geographic he didn't buy the idea that the creatures completed the dam in one night.

"I could as well believe that the pyramids were built in one week," he said, suggesting that the construction likely occurred over several weeks before people noticed.

While beavers can sometimes create problems for humans — like when a Lanškroun-area dam ended up flooding fields and a railway line, as AOPK spokeswoman Karolína Šůlová pointed out to Radio Prague International — they can also help prevent flooding and create firebreaks, which protect property by stopping or slowing wildfires.

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And as opposed to human-built dams that frequently disrupt the protective natural balance of ecosystems, reducing water quality and biodiversity, the new no-cost Brdy dam is expected to support numerous wetland species, including frogs and the rare stone crayfish.

Beaver-built dams can provide benefits beyond what may be initially apparent, too, according to science journalist Ben Goldfarb, who discussed the matter with National Geographic.

"At this point, nothing that beavers do surprises me," said Goldfarb, who explained that an Oregon beaver dam filtered heavy metals and other toxic pollutants around two times better than a multimillion-dollar stormwater treatment facility.

In Europe, native beavers were on the verge of extinction from hunting, but reintroduction efforts have helped them bounce back from the brink. Goldfarb gave local Czech authorities props for recognizing how the creatures' dam was a boon to the nearby community.

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"Instead of saying, 'That wasn't what we planned originally,' they recognized that these animals are filling that ecological function very well and said, 'We're going to let them keep doing it,'" he said.