ASWM is the association for State Wetlands Managers. It’s a national non-profit group that webinars and certifications for river stewards across the country. They are a remarkable resource that is mostly free to access. And they just posted the four webinars about beavers and wetlands from 2020. Of course every one starts with OUR PHOTO because we are the beavers for the ages.
2020 Beavers and Wetland Restoration Webinars
The Association of State Wetland Managers (ASWM) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have collaborated to develop a series of webinars introducing the topic of restoration of aquatic ecosystems through the reintroduction of beavers, the use of beaver dam analogues (BDAs) or restoration designed to attract beavers to an area to contribute to changing hydrology and restoring ecosystem services. This webinar series has been planned by a national workgroup of beaver restoration experts and webinars are presented by expert practitioners, managers and researchers working in the field. The webinar series will provide four webinars in 2020 and an additional two webinars in 2021, covering the basics of beaver restoration and continuing through implementation challenges and ways to encourage beaver restoration projects.
There were four webinars in 2020 and more coming soon. Here the four from last year, each one is worth your time.
Webinar #1: The History of Beaver and the Ecosystem Services They Provide
PRESENTERS
- Kent Sorenson, Habitat Restoration Biologist, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
- Amy Chadwick, Lead Ecologist, Great West Engineering
This first webinar in the Association of State Wetland Managers (ASWM) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) co-hosted six-part webinar series on beaver restoration provided the historical background of beaver on the land and the impacts from loss of beaver (through various hunting, trapping and removal activities) in terms of hydrology. The webinar shared what valley bottoms can be with restoration of hydrology and the role that beavers and beaver dam analogs (BDAs) can play in that restoration. The webinar explained the Stage Zero concept and unpack the challenges created by common practices that have been restoring streams to their first point of failure.
Webinar #2: Identifying Where to Place Beavers and When to Use Beaver Mimicry for Low Tech Restoration in the Arid West
PRESENTER
- Joe Wheaton, Associate Professor, Utah State University
This second webinar in the ASWM-BLM Beaver Restoration Webinar Series focused on making decisions about where beaver restoration and/or the use of beaver dam analogs (BDA) can have the greatest positive and least negative impacts. Understanding that beaver restoration is not well-suited for all contexts and purposes, this webinar discussed risk assessment and introduce participants to the primary elements required to assess the efficacy of beaver projects for specific watersheds and sites. The webinar covered how data can be used to make decisions about different kinds of flow devices and when beaver mimicry/BDAs make more sense. The webinar included a demonstration of Utah State University’s Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool (BRAT), a model that helps planners assess key parameters (such as human interaction, hydrological setting, etc.) essential to beaver work. The webinar ended with discussion about the importance of post-construction monitoring.
Webinar #3: Case Studies of Long-term Changes from Beaver Restoration Activities
PRESENTERS
• Ellen Wohl, Colorado State University
• Nick Bouwes, Utah State University
This third webinar in the ASWM-BLM Beaver Restoration Webinar Series focused on the long-term changes in riverscapes that result from beaver restoration. Where intense stream restoration is needed, people are identifying low-tech process-based methods that combine the management of grazing, beaver and other approaches that engage processes to create self-sustaining solutions. Understanding the dynamic nature of these systems is important to understanding where and how they can be useful. The webinar shared case studies of work completed, focusing on the use of beaver to restore riverscapes.
Webinar #4: Addressing Common Barriers and Objections to Beaver Restoration Work
PRESENTERS
- Wally MacFarlane, Utah State University
Justin Jimenez, Bureau of Land Management
This fourth webinar in the ASWM-BLM Beaver Restoration Webinar Series focused on common barriers to beaver restoration and beaver dam analog (BDA) work and when/how these barriers can be overcome. Common local landowner concerns include the taking of water from downstream water users, the potential for infrastructure damage, and a general intolerance for dam building activities. Common barriers to project success include long delays associated with the NEPA process and inability to sustain strong, diverse and long-lasting project partners. This webinar provided case studies from Utah and Idaho and will provide insights on best management practices for successful beaver restoration and BDA work.
That should keep you busy for this week. And convince you to sign up for Workshop 5 which is next week.
Webinar #5: Coalition Building for Beaver Based Stream and Wetland Restoration Success
PRESENTERS
- Chris Jordan, NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center
Alexa Whipple, Methow Beaver Project
Natalie Arroyo
This fifth webinar in the ASWM-BLM Beaver Restoration Webinar Series focuses on how coalition building is essential to advancing the practice of process-based stream and floodplain restoration by helping the regulatory environment be responsive to the evolving understanding around functioning, intact riverscapes. Intentional and inclusive outreach efforts and creative partnerships are critical to achieving positive restoration outcomes. Restoring floodplains based on mimicking beaver dam inundated wetlands and their inherent complexity is a paradigm shift for the stream and wetland restoration community. Practitioners are eager to engage and the science community has jumped in to lead on methods for restoration, evaluation, and assessment. However, the regulatory community, both the formal statutory authority content and the interpretation of these regulations to allow on-the-ground restoration actions, has not seen the same degree of development. As such, a growing gap between natural process-based restoration methods and the legal authority for their implementation threatens to stall the vital progress science-based stream restoration is making. Cultural change is necessary to bridge this gap and generate the required broad understanding and adoption of novel best practices. Only through inclusive coalitions building will it be possible to develop commonly held values around functioning, process-based, vibrant ecosystems that support the natural and human ecologies essential for resilient ecosystems.
