Beaver Rewilding Impacts Measured by NASA

When beavers build dams, the changes they make to their habitat can improve everything from biodiversity to drought resilience. Researchers at Boise State University and Utah State University, in collaboration with NASA’s Applied Sciences Ecological Conservation program area, are adding remote sensing data to a suite of tools to measure what happens when beaver are reintroduced to an area.

For people managing water resources and conservation efforts, predicting which streams can support beavers and monitoring how water and vegetation change once they return is critical. Using satellite data makes it possible to monitor large areas and track changes over time.