Montana BRAT: An Online Tool for Assessing Beaver Dam Capacity and Suitability in Montana Streams (Poster)

Abstract

The Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool, originally developed by the Wheaton Lab at Utah State University, is a planning tool designed to evaluate a stream's potential to support beaver dams, whether build by beavers or by humans in the form of beaver dam analogs (BDAs). It operates at a drainage network level to assess dam capacity and the potential risks that dams might pose to infrastructure (e.g., roads, bridges) or natural and human resources. The Montana Natural Heritage Program has adapted the USU BRAT model to run with Montana-specific data sets, and has turned it into an ArcGIS Onlone interactive tool for easy use by managers and planners. The poster presents the background and assumptions of BRAT, and demonstrates how it can be used to identify opportunities and risks associated with beaver conservation and restoration or BDA installation.