New kits on the block: beaver impacts and river restoration opportunities in the Tatra Mountains foreland, southern Poland

Keywords: beaver, river restoration, mountain rivers, human impacts, biogeomorphology
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 65

Abstract

This paper focuses on the patterns of recent beaver recolonization of the streams and rivers in the northern foreland of the high-mountain Tatra massif, Polish Carpathians, the impacts of beaver presence and the possibilities of enhancing spontaneous restoration of modified streams and river reaches in relation to beaver activity in the area. Following hundreds of years of beaver (Castor fiber) absence and their reintroduction to the Carpathian Mountains in 1980s. beaver population has multiplied and beaver are now present in most Carpathian rivers. However, due to widespread channel modifications, and environmental change, contemporary river systems present a varied and distinctly different environment that requires new adaptation strategies by beaver. In this paper, we discuss different patterns of beaver activity in this diverse fluvial landscape, impacts of their presence in the river corridors and the opportunities for restoration of previously human-modified river reaches, associated with beaver activity.