The Brdy Protected Landscape Area (PLA) Administration of the Czech Republic had secured hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of funding to address a bypass gully in the Klabava River, which was draining water out of valuable wetland areas.

gully /ˈɡʌli/ 溪谷；沖溝

The revitalisation plan had become bogged down in administrative red tape as officials tried to obtain building permits from local authorities in charge of the land.

Just as the project appeared dead in the water, a family of about eight European beavers swooped in to save it last month.

bog down; be/get bogged down 陷入泥沼，陷入困境

red tape 繁文縟節，官僚作風（源自用紅色或粉紅色的帶子捆紮公文的習俗）

be dead in the water 無望成功

"Nature took its course," Bohumil Fišer, the head of the Brdy Protected Landscape Area, where the revitalization project was planned, said in the statement. The beavers began working before the excavators could even break ground and had created the ideal environmental conditions "practically overnight".

The rodents construct river barriers with trees and branches which they have cut apart with their front teeth, as well with mud, stones and grass. It was not immediately clear specifically when the dams were built and how long it took to build them.

nature took its course 順其自然；指讓事情自然發展，不要人為干預或強行改變

rodent /ˈrəʊd(ə)nt/ 齧齒動物

Fišer said the estimated savings to the Czech purse reached 30 million Czech koruna. "They built a wetland with pools and canals. The area is roughly twice larger than planned."

Jaroslav Obermajer, branch head of the Czech Nature and Landscape Protection Agency, said of the beaver's opportune timing: "Beavers always know best. The places where they build dams are always chosen just right – better than when we design it on paper."

opportune /ˌɑːpərˈtuːn/ 恰好的；適時的