River-Lab

Vegetation restoration projects throughout the American Southwest have yielded positive outcomes for degraded desert streams, including the Mojave River restoration at Afton Canyon in the Eastern Mojave Desert (Egan, 1999; 2016; Bunn et al., 2003). Although rare, beaver translocation has demonstrated success as a passive desert river restoration strategy at the Price and San Rafael Rivers in eastern Utah and the San Pedro River in Arizona (Soykan et al., 2009; Doden, 2021; Sandbach, 2023). The success of translocated beaver populations is determined by mortality rate and site fidelity, as dictated by habitat quality (Colleen & Gibson, 2000; McKinstry & Anderson, 2002; Petro et al., 2015; Morris et al., 2021; Bilby & Moseby, 2023). In deserts, beaver habitat is restricted to riparian forests (Rutherford, 1964; Bee et al., 1981; Welch et al., 1993). The restoration project at Afton Canyon has facilitated the return of native willow and cottonwood populations and beaver sightings have increased (Egan, 1999; 2016; MDRCD, 2022). It is likely that a combination of natural beaver recolonization and translocation would facilitate further habitat restoration.