Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2005NE100B

Beaver in Agricultural Watersheds: Potential for Mitigating Degraded Midwestern Streams

Institute: Nebraska
Year Established: 2005 Start Date: 2005-03-01 End Date: 2006-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $10,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $38,642

Principal Investigators: Dean Eisenhauer, C. Zanner, Michael Dosskey, Scott Hygnstrom

Project Summary: Proper management of beaver in agricultural regions may be an effective and cost-efficient way to improve ecological conditions and promote sustainability of agricultural ecosystems. In eastern Nebraska, channel incision in agricultural areas is the major cause of streambank instability and cropland loss, increasing sediment pollution to streams. Beaver are recognized as ecosystem engineers for their significant role in the physical structure of ecosystems. The net value of beaver for restoring incised channels in small agricultural ecosystems remains to be assessed. Toward this goal, our objective is to quantify the capability of beaver to improve degraded channels and riparian areas in agricultural watersheds in the central U.S. This project will focus on the deeply-eroded, rolling hill watersheds of the Little Nemaha and Salt Creek River basins in southeastern Nebraska. The project will be conducted to determine the impact of beaver on stream channel and riparian hydrology and morphology in the basins. This research will illuminate the potential importance of beaver to ecological restoration and conservation of agricultural ecosystems in the central U.S.