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Hydrologic Changes in Colonial Northeast due to Beaver Decimation and Mill Pond Construction

This meta-analysis studies water storage changes in Colonial Northeast US from 1600-1800 due to beaver population decline and mill pond construction. Analyzing beaver preferences and stream orders, it aims to identify beaver dam building trends.

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Hydrologic Changes in Colonial Northeast due to Beaver Decimation and Mill Pond Construction

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  1. Heather Gall Project Number 2: Meta-analysis of change in water storage in the Northeastern United States as a result of the decimation of the beaver population and the construction of mill ponds during the Colonial Era (1600-1800). Objective: To quantify the hydrologic changes in the Northeastern US during Colonial times as a result of the decimation of the beaver population for fur trade and the construction of mill ponds. Source: http://nationalzoo.si.edu

  2. Stream Network in Study Area • Data source: NHDPlus (Regions 01 and 02) - Needed to clip the stream networks to each state’s shape file to get state-by-state data - Joined attributes from various tables to get the following information all in the same table: slope, average velocity, average flowrate, and stream order

  3. Results of Clipping to States

  4. Literature Review: Beaver Preferences • Stream slopes < 2% • Stream velocities < 0.3 m/s • Stream orders 2 – 5 • References: • Howard, R.J., Larson, J.S. 1985. A stream habitat classification system for beaver.Journal of Wildlife Management 49: 19-25. • Naiman, R.J., Melillo, J.M., Hobbie, J.E. 1986. Ecosystem alteration of Boreal forest streams by beaver (Castor canadensis). Ecology 67(5): 1254-1269. • MacDonald, D.W., Tattersall, F.H., Brown, E.D., Balharry, D. 1995. Reintroducing the European beaver to Britain – nostalgic meddling or restoring biodiversity? Mammal Review 25: 161-200.

  5. What is the relationship between beaver preferences and stream order? Put another way: What is the percentage of streams in each stream order (2-5) that match beaver preferences? • Determined the total number of streams of orders 2-5 in the entire study area • Determined the number of streams in each order that matched beaver preferences • Calculated that number as a percentage

  6. On what stream order will beavers most likely build dams? • Out of the total number of streams that matched beaver preferences, what percentage of those streams were of each order? • Determined the percentage of streams that matched beaver preferences as a function of stream order

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