Cindy de Jonge is still a bit perplexed, looking ahead at what until recently was a cycle path. “What havoc!” she notes. As a beaver expert from the province of Drenthe, she comes into contact with issues surrounding the beaver. “But this one is very special,” she says. “Impressive to see. It shows what beavers can do with their engraving.”
Exactly on the border of the municipalities of Aa and Hunze and Midden-Drenthe, a beaver family has been living in the Heart of Drenthe for a number of years. The castle was built in a prominent place: under the elevated asphalted cycle path in De Halkenbroeken. The cycle path recently collapsed due to digging several holes under the dike.
A few years ago, heavy trucks with wood drove along the cycle path from the forest. The cycle path has now been closed for more than two years. Staatsbosbeheer and the municipalities took measures to discourage visitors by cutting down trees and erecting fences. However, not all passers-by are interested in this.
De Jonge walks inspecting along the edges of the cycle path. “It is really an unsafe situation,” she says. “This is also what we were afraid of two years ago.” She points to the site of the collapsed lump. “It has happened here now, but there are many more places under the cycle path where we already know that it has been undermined by corridors.”
It will therefore be a shame for cyclists and walkers who like to recreate that the path will no longer be open for the time being. Although De Jonge is also happy with the location. It is not close to habitation or important infrastructure such as train tracks. “It is uncomfortable here. Nature is already under considerable pressure, so perhaps we will have to make some concessions.”
Because the water level also changed when the cycle path collapsed, the beavers quickly took measures. First the castle was protected because the entrance became dry. The animals then built a new dam themselves to hold the water again. All in the space of about a week. “It’s unbelievable how quickly they can fix that,” says De Jonge.
It turns out that the beaver is really pushing the buttons in the area. Something that also benefits other species, such as water birds and insects. The otter also enjoys the water in the Heart of Drenthe. De Jonge: “It is an area that has been developing for years. A few years ago there were still potatoes here and if you now look around you you really see the natural processes.”
Due to its location, the beaver forces municipalities, water boards and nature organizations to work together more. “We sometimes say that the beaver is the ‘kickstarter’ of nature development. Here they do that in a very smart, but also quite a bit intense way,” laughs De Jonge. “But it is nature development that they manage to accelerate with these types of actions.”
Although De Jonge does not call the consequences in the Heart of Drenthe very exciting, she is shocked by the possibilities. “If this happens in a vulnerable flood defense… It is now a cycle path that is collapsing, but it could also have been a dike. We live partly below sea level! We have an entire water system that could be vulnerable to this type of digging. “