I have found one paper (and two master's theses) that has examined the potential of beaver dams to mitigate wildfire damage in the immediate vicinity and promote vegetation recovery post-wildfire.
Fairfax and Whittle (2020)
Data
Beavers: authors identified beaver dams using Google Earth Engine
Wildfire: GeoMAC Wildland Fire Support Database. Link.
NDVI: Landsat 8
Research design: NDVI around beaver (treatment) vs. non-beaver (control) areas along creeks in the year before, during, and after a major fire event. 5 fire events are used, with ~700 beaver dams in the study sample. Beaver "areas" are defined as any 30mx30m pixel within 30m longitudinally of a beaver dam point.
Results: NDVI is less affected in beaver dam areas than it is in non-beaver dam areas immediately following a fire, but there is no difference between beaver and non-beaver areas 1 year after the fire.
Master's theses
Whipple, A. (2019). Riparian resilience in the face of interacting disturbances: understanding complex interactions between wildfire, erosion, and beaver (Castor canadensis) in grazed dryland riparian systems of low order streams in North Central Washington State, USA
Weirich, J. (2021). Beaver moderated fire resistance in the North Cascades and potential for climate change adaptation.
Valuation of beaver services
[ ] Look through Mendeley folder for valuation papers and tag them as such
goldma99
commented
10 months ago
Beavers and wildfire
I have found one paper (and two master's theses) that has examined the potential of beaver dams to mitigate wildfire damage in the immediate vicinity and promote vegetation recovery post-wildfire.
Fairfax and Whittle (2020)
Master's theses
Valuation of beaver services
Wildfire context/impacts
Vegetation as carbon sink