Beaver Library

Reducing nutrient runoff in streams is an important task to reduce algae blooms and associated environmental damage in large waterbodies. Beaver Dam Analogs (WTBDA) are an means to address this problem. These Water Tight Beaver Dam Analogs (WTBDA) present a novel approach to this technique that also aim to restore eroded seasonal creeks to perennial wetlands.

This thesis provides a Beaver Dam Surface Water Estimation Algorithm, a model that takes observation data of 500 beaver dams to quantify the distribution of dam sizes, then using that data to develop a model for predicting water storage. While the water storage provided by beaver dams is only a small fraction of expected snow water equivalent loss, it is not insubstantial and may prove beneficial for ecosystems where human-made reservoirs are not available to regulate hydrologic regimes.

This research focuses on the hydrological effects of a series of six beaver dams on the Chevral River, a second order tributary of the Ourthe Orientale River in a forested area of the Ardennes.

Low-tech stream restoration gains using beaver dam mimicry gains popularity as an effective fix for ailing waterways in the American West.

Jeff Burrell with the Wildlife Conservation Society with demonstrates how installing inexpensive woody debris in streams to mimic beaver dams can encourage beaver damming to mitigate the negative effects of  less snow melt summer runoff due to climate change in Montana streams.

Idaho rancher, Jay Wilde, and Joe Wheaton from Utah State University use BRAT, beaver restoration assessment tool, and identified good beaver habitat to help restore Birch Creek to year-round stream flow.

Idaho rancher, Jay Wilde, partnered with Anabranch Solutions to build BDAs, and the USFS and Idaho Fish & Game to relocate beavers into Birch Creek to help restore year-round stream flow.

An Introduction to the Role of Beavers in a Warming World. Dr. Emily Fairfax’s ASWM presentation on the ability of beavers to combat climate change, such as reducing wildfire damage.

This second webinar in the ASWM-BLM Beaver Restoration Webinar Series focuses on making decisions about where beaver restoration and/or the use of beaver dam analogs (BDA) can have the greatest positive and least negative impacts. It includes a demonstration of Utah State University’s Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool (BRAT), a model that helps planners assess key parameters essential to beaver work.

This third webinar in the ASWM-BLM Beaver Restoration Webinar Series focused on the long-term changes in riverscapes that result from beaver restoration.  Where intense stream restoration is needed, people are identifying low-tech process-based methods that combine the management of grazing, beaver and other approaches that engage processes to create self-sustaining solutions.

A review by the University of Southampton of how the reintroduction of beaver will affect fish in Scotalnd

Review of research about the positive and negative effects of beaver towards fish

A review that suggests that beaver activity can create substantial benefits and costs for conservation

Examines the long-term impact of historic beaver trapping in the United States on stream systems, the role of beaver trapping in arroyo formation in the American Southwest, why the significance of beavers was missed by the U.S. General Land Office surveys in the late 1700s to mid 1800s, and how that oversight impacted later researchers in the 1950s and 1960s as the study of fluvial geomorphology and hydraulic geometry emerged.

Tags:  erosion, arroyo formation, hydraulic geometry, channel incision, beaver trapping, General Land Office surveys

This recovery plan provides guidance to improve the viability of coho salmon to the point that it meets the delisting criteria and no longer requires ESA protection. It includes strong recommendations to increase the number of beaver and recommends the use of BDAs to restore rearing habitat for salmon.

This study quantifies the impacts of beaver on stream hydrologic and temperature regimes, and highlights the importance of understanding the spatial and temporal scales of those impacts.  We explored the impacts of beaver dams on hydrologic and temperature regimes at different spatial and temporal scales within a mountain stream in northern Utah over a 3-year period spanning pre- and post-beaver colonization.

Study of how beaver dams and their effect on stream flow affect Atlantic Salmon

This project explored the effectiveness of a management plan on improving streamflow and stream temperature

An analysis between the differences of beaver dams and artificial dams and their impacts on the wetlands they occupy

This webinar by Dr. Nick Bouwes, Utah State University focuses on the use of Beaver Dam Analogs (BDA’s) to promote incised steam and beaver restoration. 2017