Beaver: The North American freshwater climate action plan

Jordan, Chris E.; Fairfax, Emily

doi:10.1002/wat2.1592

i

Beaver: The North American freshwater climate action plan

2022
By Jordan, Chris E. ; Fairfax, Emily

Details

Journal Title:

WIREs Water
Personal Author:

Jordan, Chris E. ; Fairfax, Emily
NOAA Program & Office:

NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) ; NWFSC (Northwest Fisheries Science Center)
Description:

Rivers and streams, when fully connected to their floodplains, are naturally resilient systems that are increasingly part of the conversation on nature-based climate solutions. Reconnecting waterways to their floodplains improves water quality and quantity, supports biodiversity and sensitive species conservation, increases flood, drought and fire resiliency, and bolsters carbon sequestration. But, while the importance of river restoration is clear, beaver-based restoration—for example, strategic coexistence, relocation, and mimicry—remains an underutilized strategy despite ample data demonstrating its efficacy. Climate-driven disturbances are actively pushing streams into increasingly degraded states, and the window of opportunity for restoration will not stay open forever. Therefore, now is the perfect time to apply the science of beaver-based low-tech process-based stream restoration to support building climate resilience across the landscape. Not every stream will be a good candidate for beaver-based restoration, but we have the tools to know which ones are. Let us use them.
Keywords:

Beavers Climatic Changes Floodplain Ecology Climatic Changes Floodplain Ecology Aquatic Science Beaver Climate Change Ecology Floodplain Connectivity Management, Monitoring, Policy And Law Ocean Engineering Oceanography Process-based Restoration Water Science And Technology Water Security Wildfire
Source:

WIREs Water, 9( 4), e1592
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1592
Format:

PDF
Document Type:

Journal Article
License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Rights Information:

CC BY
Compliance:

Submitted
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha256:13b65e2cb3fc13c7be6e3be1953fd314a54089b95f0999a76f8d0c1748fc2aeb
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/48627/noaa_48627_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 2.12 MB ]

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