Exploring the Impacts of Natural and Beaver Dam Analogues on Landscape Surface Processes

In collaboration with Christa Kelleher (Syracuse University) and Julianne Davis (Syracuse University), AirCTEMPs is examining the impacts of beaver dam analogues (fake beaver dams) on deposition and erosion, vegetation greenness, and groundwater-surface water interactions. Ongoing data collection of stitched visual RGB imagery (left) and NDVI (right) is helping to reveal how these restoration structures impact the exchange of sediment, energy, and water across this landscape. Annual imagery collection (since 2017) will continue to benchmark how Red Canyon Creek and the surrounding floodplain are transformed by beaver dam analogue structures.

Davis, J., Lautz, L., Kelleher, C., Russoniello, C., and Vidon, P., 2019, Assessing the effects of beaver dam analogues on channel morphology using high-resolution imagery from unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs): Abstract H53M-1962, presented at 2019 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, 9-13 December.

Raw project data is available by contacting [e-mail]