Best restoration practices: Do BDAs mimic inundation patterns of natural beaver dams?

Abstract

​ Watershed degradation in the Western United States is a continuing issue under climate change. The headwaters to the Colorado River in the Rocky Mountains are experiencing dryness, altered chemistry, and flashiness due to climate change. Management practices involving artificial beaver dams (BDAs) have been used to counteract these issues. Though well intentioned, lack of monitoring has led to a lack of understanding of how these BDAs are impacting streams. There are uncertainties of how inundation patterns behind BDAs will change in shape, width, depth, and sediment deposition after a beaver further engineers the dams. We sampled six BDA ponds and beaver-augmented BDA ponds to compare a variety of morphological characteristics related to hydrology The beaver-augmented BDA ponds were significantly deeper than the BDA ponds since continuous engineering on the dams allows for more water impoundment and therefore a deeper pond. The BDA ponds had lower surface areas than the beaver-augmented BDA ponds since they had significantly shorter dams, and the beaver-augmented ponds were also rounder. There were not significant differences in the sediment grain size between treatment types since the beaver-augmented BDA ponds are so new. By comparing BDA habitats to beaver dams, this study improved understanding of the impacts of restoration using BDAs, and can be used in future conservation efforts.

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