Blog Archives

Utah-Wide BRAT Project Completed!

12/29/2017

Utah State University researchers Wally MacFarlane, Martha Jensen and Joe Wheaton recently completed the extension of the BRAT (Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool) Across the entire state of Utah. The model is truly ready to be run now for all western states. The decision support system and capacity model have been dramatically improved and expanded and the methods are well documented. The research was prepared for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and is intended to help them implement the Utah Beaver Management Plan. The work is summarized in:

Wheaton JM and Macfarlane WW. 2014. The Utah Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool: A Decision Support & Planning Tool – Manager Brief, Ecogeomorphology and Topographic Analysis Lab, Utah State University, Prepared for Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Logan, UT, 16 pp.

and fully reported in:

Macfarlane W.W., Wheaton J.M., and Jensen, M.L. 2014. The Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool: A Decision Support & Planning Tool for Utah. Ecogeomorphology and Topographic Analysis Lab, Utah State University, Prepared for Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Logan, Utah, 142 pp.

All the data is available here and will soon be available on the Utah Automated Geographic Reference Center.

Originally Posted: Oct 12, 2014, 12:06 PM by Joe Wheaton

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Associated Press Coverage on Beaver

12/29/2017

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Joe was interviewed recently for a recent AP article by Phuong Le on the relocation of 'nuisance' beaver in the Yakima Watershed in Washington for use as a restoration tool. The article, 'Often Pesky Beavers Put to Work Restoring Streams' was picked up by many news outlets, and resulted in an interesting interview of Mel Babik on NPR's Weekend Edition titled 'Researchers Say Beavers Are More Than Simple Pests'. This is another promising example of getting the word out on beaver as a restoration partner.

The AP story was reported in the Washington Post, ABC News, NBC News, the Huffington Post among many other outlets.

Originally Posted: Oct 11, 2014, 6:32 PM by Joe Wheaton

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Recent Radio Segments about Beaver

12/29/2017

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The interest in the applied aspects of our lab's work on beaver has been getting lots of interest as of late. On August 4th, Joe did an interview with Nick Burns on KRCL (90.9 FM)'s RadioActive all about Beavers: Nature's Engineer. Listen to the interview here.

Earlier this summer, colleagues Brain Greene from USU Water Watch, Nick Bouwes (Eco Logical Research), Wally MacFarlane (USU ETAL), Martha Jensen (USU ETAL) and Joe all did a field visit up Logan Canyon with KCPW producer Ross Chambless. Ross put together a radio segment based on the visit that aired July 13th, 2014 on 'Beaver Dam Mapping App Now Available for Citizen Scientists' .
The Chambless Explore Utah Science interview talks partly about a Beaver Monitoring App that is hosted by USU Water Watch, and partly about BRAT - the Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool.

Originally Posted: Oct 11, 2014, 6:26 PM by Joe Wheaton

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River Restoration? Leave it to Beaver Say USU Scientists

12/29/2017

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See recent post in USU Today on ET-AL researchers work published in Bioscience.
See also ET-AL post on Bioscience Article.

Pollock, M., Beechie T , Wheaton JM, Jordan C, Bouwes N, Weber N, and Volk C. 2014. Using Beaver Dams to Restore Incised Stream Ecosystems. Bioscience. DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biu036.

Get the paper here.

Originally Posted: Oct 11, 2014, 6:24 PM by Joe Wheaton

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New Scientist Highlights Potential Role Beaver Play in Carbon Sequestration

12/29/2017

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In a New Scientist article, Laurence Pope highlights a recent article by Ellen Wohl that suggests beaver play a significant role in sequestering carbon.

Originally Posted: Jul 24, 2013, 8:36 AM by Joe Wheaton

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Webinar: Cheap & Cheerful Stream Restoration - With Beaver?

12/29/2017

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Joe Wheaton delivered a webinar on "Cheap and Cheerful Stream & Riparian Restoration - with Beaver?" on Jul 25, 2013 2:00 PM MDT hosted by Jeremy Christensen of the Grand Canyon Trust. Roughly 100 participants attended.

This webinar was targeted at members of the National Riparian Service Team. The target audience was anyone interested in the conservation and restoration of riparian systems and the role that beaver can play in this management. The first hour of this webinar included a presentation by Joe Wheaton from Utah State University on techniques and research surrounding partnering with beaver in restoration design. There was roughly 45 minutes of question and answer discussion after the presentation.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.