Partnering with and/or mimicking beaver dam building has been a conservation and restoration tool for over a century. However, the popularity of such approaches has surged in the past decade as a cheap and cheerful alternative to expensive restoration and conservation projects. Moreover, such projects can be highly effective and simultaneously meeting multiple instream, riparian, upland, wet meadow and working lands management objectives. �However, when partnering with a rodent and relying on beaver dams that naturally come and go, expectation management is critical. Moreover, the management of the rangelands and these riparian areas is too often disconnected. Proactive and effective grazing management is often an essential tool in the effectiveness and feasibility of such approaches. A variety of planning tools (e.g. Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool, Riparian Condition Assessment Tool) will be highlighted to help build appropriate expectations for what is possible where and to what degree. Moreover, specific examples of how ranchers and beavers are partnering effectively will be highlighted to illustrate how to use this information to appropriately design and implement such projects.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.