Approaches for collecting beaver data virtually and on the ground and a way to run the BRAT tool in the field.
Virtual Beaver Dam Censusing
Virtual beaver dam censusing can be done in areas with sufficiently clear imagery and is a way to evaluate beaver dam presence in remote areas where it might be difficult to send field crews or large areas that might otherwise be impractical to survey. Virtual beaver dam censusing can also make use of older imagery to see a snapshot of the past for beaver dams.
On the Ground Beaver Monitoring
On the ground beaver structure monitoring is another option for seeing where dams are, this can be useful in places that don’t have high resolution imagery or if there is dense tree cover that covers the stream. On the ground monitoring is also good for monitoring changes more frequently than imagery may come out as well as more current conditions for areas that may not have recent imagery. Additionally this data can be collected alongside other data if there are field crews that are already out.
BRAT cIS
Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool Capacity Inference System is a fast field assessment version of BRAT. There are two forms, a basic version that only evaluates vegetation and the second is a more advanced form with additional ways to evaluate the capacity of a reach. This is useful for a quick and dirty field assessment for beaver capacity using observations that can be very local to your location and collected that very day.
Glossary
The glossary has photos and definitions for some terms used within the survey forms. Hopefully the glossary can clarify some confusing terms or measurements.