Beaver alarm

A pair of lumberjacks have settled in Dornbirn

Typical traces left by beavers: Gnawed trees and wood chips.

(Bild: Stadt Dornbirn)

New lumberjacks have settled in Dornbirn (Vorarlberg): A pair of beavers. The town is now taking measures to ensure safety. 

You can't miss it when beavers have been at work in a wooded area, because they leave behind the typical hourglass-shaped gnawed tree trunks with lots of wood chips around them. For some time now, walkers have been able to see exactly the same picture at Karlesgraben in Dornbirn Forach. In addition to building dams, the rodents are working on building up a food supply for the winter. They prefer to cut down willows and poplars.

"The beaver is part of our nature, but it also brings challenges with it," explains Mayor Andrea Kaufmann. The legal protection of the beavers must be guaranteed, but the damage caused by the rodents must also be kept to a minimum. This is why the animal's activities are being closely monitored by both city employees and the state beaver commissioner.

Package of measures
To protect local residents, heavily gnawed trees are felled, and dams that have been built must be dismantled and trees worthy of protection secured. Flood protection tasks are also intensifying due to the beaver, which was first sighted in Vorarlberg again in 2006 following its extinction. A total of around 300 specimens live in the region, twelve of them in Dornbirn.

Around 90 percent of all ash trees are affected by the fungal disease.

(Bild: Stadt Dornbirn)

The city is also taking measures to reduce the number of ash trees. For around 15 years, these now endangered trees have been increasingly struggling with a fungal disease (ash dieback). Now 16 trees in the Birkenwiese stadium are also affected and have to be felled. Young trees were planted as replacements months ago.