Document Type
Newsletter
Volume
9
Issue
3
Editor
Paul Rogers
Publisher
Western Aspen Alliance
Publication Date
8-2018
First Page
1
Last Page
4
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Abstract
Beaver are coming for your aspen — are you ready?
Stephen Bennett
Regulations and management of riparian corridors has improved greatly over the last few decades, but there remains a deficit of structure such as beaver dams and woody debris (e.g., logjams). Beaver dams and accumulations of wood alter the stream flow and create more complex stream habitats. Beaver populations were decimated in the 1800’s as trappers and settlers spread across western North America. Continued settlement and development left many streams without beavers (and the dams they build) and greatly reduced wood in streams. As a result, the form of many streams changed from multiple channels with diverse instream habitats and well connected floodplains to narrow incised channels, with low habitat diversity, and decreased ability to store sediment. These conditions still exist across the West and have likely reduced the extent of riparian areas and aspen communities dependent on mesic conditions.
Recommended Citation
Western Aspen Alliance, "Tremblings, August 2018" (2018). Tremblings. Paper 37.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/tremblings/37