ECOVOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE Beavers in Carpathian Mountains, Poland 2010 Co-operation: Carpathian Heritage Society Research Society “Castor” Ecovolunteer Program You can freely download this project file and files on other projects from the homepage for this project within the Ecovolunteer website: http://www.ecovolunteer.org/ (or from the national ecovolunteer domains). As it is necessary for participants in this project to be able to communicate in English, this text is provided only in English. The text of this brochure is developed in cooperation with the project staff. Annually, under the supervision of the staff the text is updated. Nevertheless you may experience some changes in the field compared to the brochure text. It is inherent to wildlife research programs that during the operations incidentally changes are necessary because of unexpected results, behaviour by the wildlife, etc. Be prepared for such changes. (Last update: August 2009) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ European Beavers / Poland – 2010 Page 1 © http://www.ecovolunteer.org Introduction Many animals modify their immediate environments to meet their needs, but among mammals, only beavers rival human beings in the extent to which they change their landscape. Beavers influence mountain streams through building dams and are influential in maintaining water resources and biodiversity. The absence of this natural engineer caused many problems, and contributed to a reduction in the natural capacity of streams to resist damaging flood events. Consequently, a programme to re-establish populations of beavers in the Carpathians commenced in 1992 and Dr. Andrzej Czech and his team have now released 200 beavers. Many of these beavers built dams and canals but, because of hard mountain conditions, some have left the reintroduction sites. To increase the effectiveness of the reintroduction programme it is important to determine existing territories, evaluate new release sites and monitor the effects of beaver activities. During your stay at the project, you will be in south-eastern corner of Poland - Bieszczady Mountains, and Lesser Beskids (Polish: Beskid Niski), close to the borders with Ukraine and Slovakia, and also within Biosphere Reserve Eastern Carpathians, which is the only tri-lateral Biosphere Reserve in the World. The area is well known for its natural beauties and unique animal and plant life. The activities vary, and include: searching for beavers and signs of their activities in mountain streams, assessment of usefulness of different sections of streams for beavers, research on the influence of beavers on ecosystems (hydrology, effects on other species etc.), reintroducing beavers and searching for effects in the field as well as testing non-lethal methods on solving beaver - human conflicts. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ European Beavers / Poland – 2010 Page 2 © http://www.ecovolunteer.org Contents 1. About beavers ...................................................................................................................................... 5 1.1. Taxonomy and social organisation ............................................................................................................................................... 5 1.2. Distribution .................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 1.3. Appearance .................................................................................................................................................................................. 6 1.4. Vision, hearing and sense of smell .............................................................................................................................................. 6 1.5. Teeth ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 1.6. Locomotion ................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 1.7. Scent marking glands ................................................................................................................................................................... 8 1.8. Reproduction and longevity .......................................................................................................................................................... 9 1.9. Foraging ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 9 1.10. Construction work ..................................................................................................................................................................... 10 1.11. Dispersal and territories ........................................................................................................................................................... 11 1.12. Predators and diseases ............................................................................................................................................................ 11 2. Beavers in Poland .............................................................................................................................. 12 3. The study area ................................................................................................................................... 13 3.1. Bieszczady Mountains and Bieszczady National Park .............................................................................................................. 13 3.2. Lesser Beskids and Magura National Park ............................................................................................................................... 15 4. Carpathian Beaver Project ................................................................................................................. 18 4.1. Background ................................................................................................................................................................................ 18 4.2. Staff ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 18 4.3. General goal of the project ......................................................................................................................................................... 19 4.4. Objectives of the project ............................................................................................................................................................. 19 5. How you may help ............................................................................................................................. 20 5.1. Activities and possibilities ........................................................................................................................................................... 21 6. Travel information ............................................................................................................................ 22 6.1. Dates .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 22 6.2. Duration ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 22 6.3. Capacity ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 22 6.4. Price ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 22 6.5. Accommodation .......................................................................................................................................................................... 23 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ European Beavers / Poland – 2010 Page 3 © http://www.ecovolunteer.org 6.6. Transport to Poland & Meeting .................................................................................................................................................. 23 6.7. Insurance .................................................................................................................................................................................... 23 6.8. Medical services ......................................................................................................................................................................... 24 6.9. Conditions for participation ........................................................................................................................................................