Beaver Habitat Survey Field Day 8/19/2024
Given the scale of degradation within streams and wetlands and throughout the West, we need all partners mobilized to restore these systems. Beavers are our greatest ally! But for this ecosystem engineer to successfully create resilience against drought & wildfire, they must be able to safely build and maintain their natural infrastructure while expanding their numbers and distributions across the state. While there are many ‘tools’ in our beaver protection and restoration ‘toolkit’, one of the most critical is the ability to relocate beavers from areas where they are not welcome to areas on Mt. Hood where they can thrive. Staff and volunteers at Bark play an important role in finding and verifying suitable habitat on MHNF to share with our partners. Together we form a chain of dedicated beaver stewards!
Everyone is welcome and no experience necessary! Beaver habitat field days are moderate to high physical activity days with plenty of stepping over logs, wading into wetland areas and pushing through shrubs. We’ll collect data from all over our site and assess our site for presence of woody building material, herbaceous foods, hydrology, beaver sign (like chew or old dams) and more! Our beaver scorecard will allow us to rank the sites suitability and add the location to our ever-expanding data set. This data will then be shared with our beaver reintroduction partners at the Forest Service, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Institute of Natural Resources, Multnomah County Drainage District, Portland State University students and others.
For every field day, we will all meet at Gateway/NE 99th Ave. at 9 am. Make sure to meet us at the entrance to the parking garage! From there we will coordinate carpooling to our secondary location. This location will vary depending on the final survey site so keep an eye out for an update/reminder email a few days before the event. At the secondary location, I will share the coordinates for our final destination, and we will caravan together to the site. At the final site, we will do our Land Acknowledgement writing practice, share safety info, talk about the site and then head into the field for some surveying! While in the field, we will stop frequently for breaks, water, snacks and lunch. We will survey for approximately 4 hours, depending on the length of our drive, and return in time to be at the Gateway/99th Ave. Park and Ride between 5 and 6pm.
Before registering:
1. Review our Intro to Beaver Habitat Surveys PowerPoint slides
2. Fill out the Carpool Form (there are tabs at the bottom for each field day)
3. Reserve rubber boots on our Boot Reservation form– we will be in standing water! (there are tabs at the bottom for each field day)
4. Check out our website for more info: Typical Field Day, Field Day Packing List
5. Email Bark with any medical issues (diabetes, allergies, etc.), accommodations, questions or concerns.
Questions? Email Meg@Bark-Out.org