| Citation | Fairfax, E., Whipple, A., Wheaton, J.M., Osorio, B., Miller, J., Kirksey, K., Perez, N., Gilbert, J.T., and Jordan, C.E., 2024, Impacts of beaver dams on riverscape
burn severity during megafires in the Rocky Mountain region, western United States, in Florsheim, J.L., O¿Dowd, A.P., and Chin, A., eds., Biogeomorphic
Responses to Wildfire in Fluvial Ecosystems: Geological Society of America Special Paper 562, p. 131¿151, https://doi.org/10.1130/2024.2562(07). (https://doi.org/10.1130/2024.2562(07)) |
| Title | Beaver-Modified Riverscapes Withstand Megafires in the Rocky Mountain Region, USA |
| Publication Year | 2024 |
| Volume | Special Papers, 562 |
| Pages | 131-151 |
| Keywords | climate change, beaver, riverscape, megafire |
| Abstract | Megafires, defined as fires with burn areas greater than 100,000 acres (404.7 square kilometers), are partially the result of increasingly short wet seasons coupled with hotter, drier summers, year after year and partially the result of historical forest management decisions. Though megafires historically were rare, they have become
increasingly common in recent years. In this study, we demonstrate that beaver-dammed riverscapes (n=1537 beaver dams) have significantly reduced burn severity compared to riverscapes without beaver and to areas outside of the riverscape during three megafires that burned in the Rocky Mountain Region in 2020. Additionally, when riverscapes are classified according to their modeled beaver dam capacities (a metric closely linked to riparian habitat quality), beaver-dammed areas had consistently lower burn intensities than those without beaver dams. The impact of beaver damming on burn severity reduction is most pronounced in riverscapes where beaver damming i |
| Official Citation | Fairfax, E., Whipple, A., Wheaton, J.M., Osorio, B., Miller, J., Kirksey, K., Perez, N., Gilbert, J.T., and Jordan, C.E., 2024, Impacts of beaver dams on riverscape
burn severity during megafires in the Rocky Mountain region, western United States, in Florsheim, J.L., O¿Dowd, A.P., and Chin, A., eds., Biogeomorphic
Responses to Wildfire in Fluvial Ecosystems: Geological Society of America Special Paper 562, p. 131¿151, https://doi.org/10.1130/2024.2562(07). |
| Links | (https://doi.org/10.1130/2024.2562(07)) |