We quantified breeding bird abundance, diversity, and indicator species in riparian and upland dry forests along 6 third‐ to fourth‐order streams on the east slope of the Cascade Range, Washington, USA. Upland dry forest on southerly aspects was dominated by open ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and dry Douglas‐fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) plant associations. Upland mesic forest on northerly aspects was dominated by closed‐canopy Douglas‐fir or dry grand fir (Abies grandis) plant associations. Riparian overstory vegetation was dominated by black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) plant associations with a prominent hardwood tree and shrub component. We quantified bird assemblages, diversity, and abundance from parallel point transects on riparian and adjacent dry and mesic upslope forests. We detected 80 bird species from >12,000 point‐transect observations during 1998–1999. Eighteen species accounted for 75% of all detections. Species richness and evenness were similar in all 3 forest types, with approximately 35 species and high evenness (0.85) in each forest type. Bird species assemblages differed among dry, mesic, and riparian forest types, with the greatest differences between riparian and both dry and mesic upland forests. Riparian forest had the greatest number (9) of strong characteristic, or indictor, species among the 3 forest types. Upland mesic forest was characterized by 7 indicator species. Upland dry forest had 4 indicator species. Our results indicate that current standards and guidelines for riparian buffers zones would allow for avian refuge and corridor functions along these streams. Forest managers could use our indicator species to predict and monitor shifts in upland forest species composition from thinning and prescribed burning practices that are used to reduce fuels in uplands and to reduce continuity of fire effects between riparian and upland zones.

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This case explores the Methow Beaver Project (MBP), an ambitious experiment to restore beaver (Castor canadensis) to a high mountain watershed in Washington State, USA. The Pacific Northwest is already experiencing weather regimes consistent with longer term climate projections, which predict longer and drier summers and stronger and wetter winter storms. Ironically, this combination makes imperative more water storage in one of the most heavily dammed regions in the nation. Although the positive role that beaver can play in watershed enhancement has been well known for decades, no project has previously attempted to re-introduce beaver on a watershed scale with a rigorous monitoring protocol designed to document improved water storage and temperature conditions needed for human uses and aquatic species. While the MBP has demonstrated that beaver can be re-introduced on a watershed scale, it has been much more difficult to scientifically demonstrate positive changes in water retention and stream temperature, given hydrologic complexity, unprecedented fire and floods, and the fact that beaver are highly mobile. This case study can help environmental studies students and natural resource policy professionals think about the broader challenges of diffuse, ecosystem services approaches to climate adaptation. Beaver-produced watershed improvements will remain difficult to quantify and verify, and thus will likely remain less attractive to water planners than conventional storage dams. But as climate conditions put additional pressure on such infrastructure, it is worth considering how beaver might be employed to augment watershed storage capacity, even if this capacity is likely to remain at least in part inscrutable.

Beaver (Castor canadensis) are currently the focus of many wetland restoration projects as a keystone species and an ecosystem engineer. This species forms multi-season pair bonds, making sex ratio an especially important consideration for restoration projects. However, beavers lack external sexual dimorphism (with the exception of lactation) and current methods of sex identification have error rates C10%. We improved on previous methods of genetic sex identification for beaver by developing a test that uses a short nuclear fragment in addition to an established Y chromosome-specific sex-determining region (SRY) marker. This method had 100% accuracy with 28 known-sex samples and 95% PCR success with no inconsistencies for 42 hair samples from beavers of unknown sex. We used this test to inform a beaver restoration study and increase the probability of population establishment from translocated animals.