by Cooper Lienhart
- Carbon sequestration –
- Beaver and BDA restored rivers and streams connected to the floodplain hold significantly more carbon than degraded rivers and streams, as well as grasslands. Active beaver complexes hold on average 10-30 times more carbon than grasslands.
- Biodiversity –
- Beaver and BDA restored rivers and streams support increased biodiversity and richness of plant and animal species.
- Water Quantity –
- Beaver and BDA restored rivers and streams support increased surface water storage, groundwater connectivity and recharge, and duration of surface water flow.
- Water Quality –
- Beaver restored areas improve the water quality of the river or stream as well as lessen the pollutants that make it to the ocean. Beaver ponds create slow water to settle out pollutants such as heavy metals and excess nutrients. Then the beaver dams force water underground, binding pollutants to the soil where natural decomposition processes can convert excess nutrients.
- Fire resiliency –
photo courtesy of Joseph Wheaton (Utah State University) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.- Beaver and BDA restored rivers and streams are proven to show enhanced fire resiliency, often creating large wetted areas that will not burn, thus creating fire refuge for wildlife. A restored river or stream network can also act as a fire break. Furthermore, restored streams aid in post-fire recovery – settling out harmful ash.
- Water temperature –
- Beaver dams and Beaver Dam Analogues (BDAs) drive surface water-groundwater interactions, cycling warmer surface water with colder groundwater, thus creating an overall cooler, heterogenous temperature mosaic that benefits wildlife, water quality and more.
- Drought resiliency –
- The increased water storage, groundwater storage and hydrologic connectivity of the floodplain improves the drought tolerance of plant and animal communities, as well as human communities.
- Flood resiliency –
- Beaver dams and BDAs act as speed bumps that slow and spread the water flow, which disperses the energy of the system, thus lessening the intensity of high flow events that cause flooding.
- Erosion protection –
- The introduction of beaver dams and BDAs into rivers and streams is shown to reverse the effects of erosion. The added in-channel structure dampens the erosive force of the water flow by slowing and spreading the water, while the structures catch sediment to help build the river or stream back up to the floodplain. Meanwhile increased riparian vegetation helps stabilize the banks.
- Steelhead and salmonids –
- Beaver and BDA restored sites improve the survival rate, health and population size of steelhead and salmonids. The slow moving water, regulated water temperature and increased water quality are some of the contributing factors that aid in their increased productivity.