Why does NASA have beaver fever?

Sometimes beavers may be the butt of jokes and memes, but the oversized rodents are also recognized for their unique engineering skills…and NASA is the latest to catch “beaver fever.”

Tails down, the beaver is credited with single-handedly making the most impact on North American landscapes. Their dams redirect some of the water from rivers and streams which in turn transforms barren landscapes into habitats with more plants, ponds and meadows. Fish and animal life increase, and the land has greater fire and drought resiliency.

Idaho ranchers took notice nearly ten years ago and began rewilding beavers. Today there are more than 200 beaver dams in Birch Creek alone, which flows 40 days longer. Land and water conservation researchers caught on to beaver fever as did local fish and wildlife organizations, watershed managers, land trusts, conservation and restoration NGOs. Collectively, they recognized that if strategically placed, beavers could considerably impact ecosystems everywhere.

How did NASA get involved? To circumvent time-consuming manual data collection to determine the best areas to repopulate with beavers, NASA employs its fleet of Earth-observing missions that regularly collects real-time seasonal data worldwide. This technology saves researchers significant time and costs and improves decision-making tools to determine future terrain and water management strategies. Leave it to the beavers to make such a splendid splash!

ARTICLE: BEAVERS AT THEIR BEST