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The German-Czech project "BIBOB - Cross-border beaver dam management in the context of climate change", which is funded by the EU as part of the Interreg Saxony-Czech Republic 2021-2027 program, aims to show the extent to which beaver dams can make positive contributions to mitigating and managing environmental risks caused by climate change in the border region.
To this end, the Technical University of Prague, the University of Agricultural Sciences Prague, the Landscape Management Association Saxon Switzerland/Eastern Ore Mountains and the non-profit organization Alka Wildlife o.p.s. from Peč are cooperating under the leadership of the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Technical Hydromechanics of the TUD Dresden University of Technology over the project period 01/2025-12/2027. The immediate practical goal is to develop a guideline for beaver dam management that can be applied in the Saxon-Czech border region (and possibly beyond). In addition to hydraulic and technical aspects, the guideline should also shed light on the respective legal framework conditions under which special circumstances, e.g. exceptional permits for interventions in existing beaver dams, can be granted. Thematic foundations for the guideline to be developed already exist in both countries (e.g. DWA-M 608-2, 2023 and Vorel et al., 2016), although the topic of beaver dams is addressed there, but is not explicitly the focus.

From a scientific perspective, one of the objectives was to carry out hydrological balances in the study areas and to analyze and simulate the hydraulic interactions between the surface water and groundwater using field measurements and hydronumerical models. Other issues that will also be examined in the course of the project include the stability of beaver dams in the event of flooding, which is closely linked to the hydraulic effects of overflow and underflow as well as the flow around and through these (partially permeable) natural dam structures.