Team Name:Massachusetts Water Resources
Project Video Title: Something to Chew on:
Detecting Beaver-Induced Flooding in Massachusetts
POC Name: Liana Stachowicz
POC Email: lianastack6@gmail.com
>> LIANA STACHOWICZ: Across Massachusetts
there is a group of elite builders who are
growing in size, altering habitats, and creating
homes for themselves and their loved ones.
But it’s not humans, It's beavers!
In the 1700s overhunting decimated the North
American beaver population throughout much
of the United States.
A change in legislation and hunting practices
has led to their dramatic return back to the
landscape of Massachusetts.
>> ELISSA LANDER: Beavers are fascinating
creatures.
They make dams and the dams flood areas upstream
from the dam.
They alter landscapes by usually increasing
wetland areas.
The wetland areas are great habitat for specific
creatures.
Wetland plants, invertebrates, frogs, fish,
great blue herons, and woodpeckers.
However there is an impact on other species
that can be considered a negative depending
on what you’re managing for.
If you’re living near a wetland that has
recently been flooded by beavers, you may
find your basement a little bit flooded.
Roads can also be flooded.
If you have a well or a septic system, you
may find that those are flooded from time
to time.
>>LIANA STACHOWICZ: These human-beaver conflicts
have led local organizations to inquire about
the distribution of beaver activity in Massachusetts.
>> JOSH RAPP: The Massachusetts Audubon Society
is a non-profit in Massachusetts that manages
38,000 acres of land across the state and
is also active in advocacy and education.
Mass Audubon’s management practices vary
from site to site.
Ideally we adjust our own infrastructures
such as trails to accommodate the beavers.
However, many of our sanctuaries are surrounded
by neighborhoods.
In these cases we sometimes employ flow control
devices that minimize flooding while still
allowing beavers to remain in the ecosystem.
>> LIANA STACHOWICZ: The Boston NASA DEVELOP
team partnered with the Massachusetts Audubon
Society to create a tool capable of identifying
beaver flooding in order to better inform
management strategies.
The project utilized NASA Earth observations
from Landsat 5, 7, and 8 to show flooding
across Massachusetts for the past 35 years.
In order to validate if these flooding events
were caused by beavers, we overlaid the flood
maps with a layer of confirmed beaver observations
obtained from Global Biodiversity Information
Facility, a free online citizen science platform.
>> JOSH RAPP: Understanding where beavers
are active and the valuable wetlands they
create can help us protect these important
areas while minimizing impacts to human infrastructure.
With the help of NASA DEVELOP, we can better
inform the public about their beaver-neighbors
and work towards a more harmonious relationship
between two of nature’s best engineers.
