© dpa
The coating is intended to deter beavers from gnawing.
© dpa
This protects the tree from beavers.
© dpa
They are allowed to gnaw on some trees, but not others.
Volunteers have painted dozens of trees in Berlin's Tiergarten to protect them from beavers.
The special coating of quartz sand has a mechanical effect and forms a breathable coating on the tree trunk, as the Berlin Nature Conservation Foundation explains. The coating is intended to prevent beavers from gnawing on the tree, thus protecting valuable trees.
The Berlin Nature Conservation Foundation, the Lower Nature Conservation Authority and the Green Space Office in the Mitte district joined forces for the campaign. According to the foundation, it is often a challenge to reconcile different interests in a big city. The campaign aims to protect both the beaver and the valuable tree population in the Großer Tiergarten by directing beavers to other areas of the park, as the two nature conservation rangers Laura Damerius and Simone Völker explain. This is to be supported by so-called diversionary feeding. For example, willow branches or maple twigs are to be laid out to guide the beavers.
Beavers are strictly protected and have been living in the Tiergarten again for around five to six years. Based on the feeding tracks, the rangers currently assume that there are between one and three animals. In summer they mainly eat water plants or grasses, in winter they eat bark or gnaw on trees to get at branches. The project shows how nature conservation can work in an urban area, said Christopher Schriner, the district councillor for public order, environment, nature, streets and green spaces in Mitte, according to a press release. The Berlin Nature Conservation Foundation has set itself the goal of preserving and restoring habitats in the capital. To this end, it works together with various stakeholders such as the supreme and lower nature conservation authorities, the green space authorities and others.