Posts of News & Announcements

Largest Ever Beaver Dam Discovered... Gets Big Media Attention

2010-05-07T19:59:06.790Z

A Canaidan researcher, Jean Thie of EcoInformatics, has found the longest beaver dam in the world simply by exploring using Google Earth. The media has recently taken great interest in the story. The dam, located in Northern Alberta is roughly 850 meters (2790 ft) long, which outpaces the previous record holder in Three Forks, Montana, which was 652 meters (2140 ft) long. As Rachel Maddow pointed out on MSNBC (see video below), the dam is more than 1000 ft longer than Hoover Dam! This is actually not that surprising considering engineers look to place dams in narrow canyons to lessen material costs, whereas beavers build low-head dams that are intended to spread water out over as large an area as possible. All the same, the positive media interest in the story is encouraging for the industrious little beaver. For just a few of the media outlets who picked up the story you can see:

'World's biggest beaver dam discovered in northern Canada' - Yahoo News
'Alberta's huge beaver dam sparks media buzz' - From CBC News
'World's largest beaver dam can be seen from space' - From Digital Journal
'Hot Dam! Alberta bevaer build visible from space' - From The Record
'Beaver dam visilbe from space' - The Straits Times

Longest Known Beaver Dam in World

The photo above is an oblique image from EcoInformatics of the dam. The best summary of the findings is on Jean Thie's EcoInformatics website. At right, you can navigate around the dam itself, or you can download this KMZ file to view the dam in Google Earth from EcoInformatics.

The image (above left) from Ecoinformatics, shows some context for the Google Map (above right). Below is the video from the Rachel Maddow Show (if video does not show see here).

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For more information on beavers, see our Beaver Links page.

Leave it to Beaver

2009-10-19T17:32:16.717Z

A recent article in the Salt Lake Tribune, a segment on NPR's All Thing's Considered, and a segment on Utah Public Radio's Wild About Utah all help highlight the use of beaver as a potential river restoration agent. They also speak to the idea that beaver might be helpful in buffering anticipated impacts from climate change. Beaver are finding themselves in the news more and more:

'Beavers: The Original Army Corps of Engineers' -Wild About Utah on Utah Public Radio (Holy Strand)
'Leave it to Beaver' - read story and see video at Salt Lake Tribune
'Beavers Offer Solution to Climate Change' - Listen to story on NPR
'Mother Nature's Little Helpers: The Busy Beaver May be Key to Region's Water Issues' - read story in Spokesman Review
See also the recent post on 'Largest known beaver dam discovered'

Current research in our lab is looking at better understanding the feedbacks beaver create between the physical and ecological aspects of rivers and what might be necessary to help make beaver more effective restoration agents. See also Beaver Links.

See also:

Pollock, M. M., T. J. Beechie, et al. (2007). "Geomorphic changes upstream of beaver dams in Bridge Creek, an incised stream channel in the interior Columbia River basin, eastern Oregon." Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 32(8): 1174-1185. DOI: 10.1002/esp.1553.

RiverWebs - A film about life, death, science, and streams

2010-03-20T05:04:42.254Z

If you are interested in rivers, you should see this documentary and the work of Freshwaters Illustrated:

'RiverWebs takes a close look at an international group of river ecologists who share a story of tragedy, growth, and recovery. Across Eastern and Western cultures, this unlikely circle of friends shows us a very human side of science, while demonstrating how the process of discovery works. The inspiring lives and experiences of these scientists build a rich story of hope and interconnectedness, while providing a personal window through which to view rivers, ecology, and conservation. Running Time: 57 min.'

Produced by:

New Paper in Earth Surface Processes & Landforms and Software

2009-12-11T06:15:50.897Z

A paper we wrote has been published in Earth Surface Processes & Landforms, has is availalble online:

Wheaton JM, Brasington J, Darby SE and Sear D. 2010. Accounting for Uncertainty in DEMs from Repeat Topographic Surveys: Improved Sediment Budgets. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 35 (2): 136-156. DOI: 10.1002/esp.1886.

The software we wrote to implement the methods we developed and reported in the paper is available as an open source software both here and as online supplemental materials to the article on the journal's website.

New Paper in River Research & Applications Special Issue on Ecohydraulics

2009-09-11T15:19:15.366Z

A paper we wrote that will appear in an upcoming special issue of River Research and Applications on Ecohydraulics, has been published online:

Wheaton JM, Brasington J, Darby SE, Merz JE, Pasternack GB, Sear DA and Vericat D. 2009. Linking Geomorphic Changes to Salmonid Habitat at a Scale Relevant to Fish. River Research and Applications. DOI: 10.1002/rra.1305.

Upcoming Special Issue in Geomorphology

2009-03-05T20:12:27.143Z

Following on the success of our 'Multiscale Feedbacks in Ecogeomorphology' session at Fall AGU, Dr. Chris Gibbins, Professor John Wainwright and myself will be guest editing a special issue based on contributions to that session. Publications in the special issue are anticipated to begin appearing online in Geomorphology in late Summer 2009 and the print edition should appear in early 2010 in advance of the Spring EGU conference.