Hydraulic models of two beaver affected reaches in the Tualatin Basin, Oregon

Beaver dams affect stream hydraulics by temporarily impounding water in stream channels. Beaver dams and their associated impoundments can potentially influence streamflow hydrographs and stream hydraulics in multiple ways including altering the magnitude and duration of high flows, temporary storage of storm water, and the range and spatial distribution of water depths and velocities in affected reaches. High-resolution two-dimensional hydraulic models were developed to compare hydrologic and hydraulic responses to beaver dams in two 1 kilometer long urban stream reaches in the Tualatin River Basin (northwestern Oregon) across a range of streamflows. To evaluate the influence of beaver dams, identical hydraulic models for each reach were developed to simulate dammed conditions (representing conditions present in 2017) and a hypothetical undammed condition. Results from this study, including descriptions of model development and limitations, are detailed in an accompanying USGS Scientific Investigation Report, "Beavers (Castor canadensis) in the Tualatin River Basin, Northwestern Oregon—Hydrologic and Hydraulic Responses of Beaver Dams to Storm Flows in Urban Streams, 2016–17". This data release contains the hydraulic models used in the study.

White, J.S., Jones, K.L., and Rounds, S.A., 2025, Effects of beaver dams and ponds on hydrologic and hydraulic responses of storm flows in urban streams of the Tualatin River Basin, northwestern Oregon, chap. B of Jones, K.L., and Smith, C.D., eds., Beavers in the Tualatin River Basin, northwestern Oregon: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2025–5039–B, 38 p., https://doi.org/ 10.3133/ sir20255039B.