By Katelin Killoy, Rebecca Brown, and Camille McNeely

This summer a team from 51¸£ÀûÉç’s biology department and partners from the Methow Beaver Project collected data from 13 streams across the Methow and Okanogan watersheds. We focused our efforts on incised streams in wildfire affected areas. Stream incision occurs when channel downcutting into the stream bed causes streams to be disconnected from their floodplain, so water storage and riparian zones become diminished (Figure 1). This means that floodplains no longer become flooded, and important nutrient exchanges and channel forming floods do not occur. Additionally, when streams are disconnected; floodplains begin to resemble dry upland terraces. Stream incision often occurs from the loss of vegetation on banks, due to wildfires, grazing, etc., leading to high erosion. Wetland vegetation decreases, runoff into streams increases, channel downcutting increases, nutrient retention decreases, and water storage decreases. This is often compounded by the loss of beavers.

Figure 1: An incised stream. Look at how the stream and the floodplain are disconnected. This causes the floodplain to resemble dry uplands as you can see in the picture. This doesn’t look like a stable stream ecosystem fit for fish and wildlife.

Beavers increase water storage in incised streams by raising water levels in the stream and groundwater by creating dams. Water storage describes water that is temporarily held in the area. Beaver dam complexes increase water storage by slowing water and increasing water infiltration into the soil. Raising water storage restores floodplain water tables by extending groundwater infiltration throughout the floodplain. When beaver dams store precipitation and snowmelt longer, they can relieve drought stress and allow more floodplain and wetland plant species to grow. The resulting lush, wet floodplains provide important food for wildlife, and refugia during drought and wildfires. But that’s not all beavers do!

Beaver ponds improve water quality by trapping and converting nutrients (Figure 2). Increased runoff into streams can increase nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in streams from fertilizers. When this happens, algae abundance increases from the high availability of nutrients. When the algae die, microbes decompose the algae, resulting in reduced dissolved oxygen in the stream, which can be very harmful for our native trout and salmon populations. Streams with beaver ponds have lower streambank erosion and contribute the least soil and phosphorus into streams. Additionally, the retention of phosphorus from beaver ponds help aquatic ecosystems recover from wildfires by trapping nutrients. There is a common belief that beaver ponds are not good for salmonids and ecosystems, but we are now discovering how beneficial they are.

Despite the many beneficial ecosystem functions beaver dams provide, beavers are not found in many of their historic watersheds. Human conflict, trapping, and degraded floodplains prevent them from reaching their historic population levels. While beaver reintroduction may help restore streams, there are areas where reintroduction may not be feasible or may require prior floodplain restoration to ensure the habitat is viable for beavers.

Figure 2: Beaver pond on Benson Creek in the Methow watershed. You can visually see how the dam is storing water, and the dam is surrounded by lush vegetation.

Figure 3: A crew from the Methow Beaver Project building a Beaver Dam Analog. They hammer in posts across the stream and then weave trees such as willows or alder through the posts. These are designed to mimic natural beaver dams.

Where beaver reintroduction is not feasible, Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs) may be a useful tool (Figure 3). BDAs are man-made structures mimicking beaver dams. Although, they are maintained less frequently and often use more porous materials, it is not known how effective BDAs are at mimicking natural beaver dam ecosystem functions. The few existing BDA studies have low replication, and are usually based on one BDA complex. Yet despite the limited research on their efficacy, BDAs have  become an increasingly popular restoration tool.

To address the need for more research, I am conducting a large-scale study of multiple BDA and beaver dam complexes in the Methow and Okanogan watersheds funded by a grant from Seattle City Light to my mentors, Dr. McNeely and Dr. Brown. Our study is making use of eight BDA complexes being established by the nonprofit, Methow Beaver Project, with over a million dollars in funding from the Washington Department of Ecology and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Last summer, we collected data on topography, vegetation, water quality, and water storage (Figure 4 and 5) before the BDA complexes were installed, and next summer I’ll be collecting data after installation. Our study will be the first step of a long-term study assessing BDA success over time, and will help guide agencies’ use of BDAs as a restoration technique. My study will determine whether BDAs can play a similar role to Beaver dams in increasing ecosystem resilience to climate change induced drought and wildfire.

Figure 4: Graduate student Katelin Killoy holding a stadia rod to measure topography at a beaver pond on Bonaparte Creek in the Okanogan Watershed. Look at how green the floodplain is.

Figure 5: Undergrad field technician Catie Schwartzmann, and Dr. Rebecca Brown conducting a vegetation transect across Tunk Creek in the Okanogan Watershed. This is a future BDA complex site. Pre-restoration data was being collected. Look at the stream incision.

Students may wonder why they are often required to work in a group to complete an assignment or project. The answer is simple, in the Biology Department our ultimate goal is to prepare our students to succeed in their careers after they graduate, and employers consistently identify the ability to collaborate as one of the most desirable qualities for their employees. At Eastern, we don’t just talk the talk, we also walk the walk.

A group of five 51¸£ÀûÉç Biology faculty recently received the exciting news that the Department of Education is awarding our department $646,737 over the next three years to allow us to provide a graduate education to students who might not be able to attend graduate school without substantial financial assistance. These competitive fellowships will be available to students working in any discipline in Biology, provided they meet the eligibility criteria outlined in the grant, which includes financial need.

It would have been incredibly challenging for any single faculty member to complete the 40-page proposal required for this grant. The proposal process is rigorous, competitive, and must be completed in a limited timeframe. Sections of the grant included a description of our general objectives, our specific problems, and a plan to address those problems. In addition, we were asked to describe how we would measure our successes and identify those areas in which we need to improve. – Yes, you do have to collect empirical data in all aspects of science! Each member of the team contributed ideas and expertise, and we all spent a substantial amount of time writing. However, the joy and sense of satisfaction we felt upon learning we were successful made it all worthwhile.

Teamwork at 51¸£ÀûÉç also goes beyond any single department. The GAANN Leadership Team received an incredible amount of help from the 51¸£ÀûÉç Grants Office. Kristyl Riddle in particular deserves a huge shout out for helping us stay organized, on task, and fixing those infuriating formatting issues in Google Docs. We also received substantial support from the CSTEM Dean’s Office, and the Provost’s office, without which we would have been unable to even submit our proposal.

More information will come soon, including instructions for those interested in applying for a Fellowship. In the meantime, anyone with questions may contact Dr. Paul Spruell (pspruell@ewu.edu).

GAANN Leadership Team: Dr. Bo Idsardi, Dr. Camille McNeely, Dr. Javier Ochoa-Reparaz, Dr. Robin. O’Quinn, and Dr. Paul Spruell (Project Director).

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Take a moment to about her experience as a biology major at 51¸£ÀûÉç.

Rachael is an undergraduate student with the Biology Department. She also spent time at Spokane Falls Community College where she focused on economics, with an emphasis on environmental policy. Her interests and research focus is on ecology and how invasive species and anthropogenic climate change will affect different ecosystems. She wants her education in economics to follow her into her biological studies so that economic factors can help to persuade policy. She is a McNair Scholar as well as a research assistant in Dr. Rebecca Brown’s lab that is focused on restoring a section of the Palouse Prairie. She hopes to obtain a Ph.D. and mentor students as a professor. For her 2020 51¸£ÀûÉç McNair Summer Research Internship, Rachael continued her work under the mentorship of Dr. Brown, Professor of Biology at 51¸£ÀûÉç.

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Environmental Protection Chief Bill Sherman will be joining in a virtual discussion with 51¸£ÀûÉç students on Tuesday, December 8th from 12-1pm. They will be speaking to the litigation under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) against the Trump Administration.

The panelists will discuss the importance of NEPA and how it helps to protect our environment here in Washington State. AG Ferguson will discuss the rules the Trump Administration is proposing and how it will eliminate or reduce scrutiny for federal decisions and harm Washington. Participants will learn how the changes restrict NEPA’s application and scope and how the failure to conduct environmental review will affect our public health by the proposed regulatory changes. The presentation will include a Q&A session with the panelists.

This event is incorporated into the PLAN 431/571 Environmental Review and Environmental Impact Statements course, offered by Professor Margo Hill, who has opened up this unique opportunity to the 51¸£ÀûÉç campus community. This is sure to be an insightful conversation for all of those interested in environmental planning and protection and those intrigued by the role our state plays in this regulation on a national stage.

If you are interested in this event, please connect via Zoom .