Google Earth Community: World's Longest Beaver Dam found with Google Earth

This is the longest beaver dam I have found so far with a systematic Google Earth search and interpretation of beaver habitat across Canada. Beaver lodges are visible and the dam must be the result of at least two beaver families. Dams of about 500 meters are quite common in Canada, but 850 meters (2790 ft) is exceptional. Long dams like this tend to develop mainly in large wetlands. Many more beaver dams can be observed in the surrounding area. This dam is located near the southern edge of Wood Buffalo National Park , in Northern Alberta, Canada and about 190 km North of Fort McMurray and the Alberta Tar Sands.

Wikipedia provides a reference for a beaver dam near Three Forks, Montana, with a length of 652 meters (2,140 feet), 4.3 meters (14 feet) high at the highest point, and seven meters (23 feet) thick at the base. I have not been able to find this dam on Google Earth.

The challenge: "Find the largest beaver dam in your area"

For more information:
http://www.geostrategis.com/p_beavers-longestdam.htm

The direction of waterflow is indicated by the blue arrow. Waterflows subsurface through a wetland, treed muskeg, with stunted tamarack and black spruce. Just to the left of the big dam two small new dams are being build. They are much better visible with Google Earth tahn on this image. The big dam itself is a combination of the work of at least two beaver families.

The NASA LandSat 7 Pseudo Color Image (2000) was taken from World Wind. Relief is exaggerated 5x to enhance the relief significance for beaver habitat and occurrence. The alluvial fans and associated drainage systems provide exceptional habitat. That is where the longest beaver dam was found. (See black arrow).

This pseudo image with a near infra red band shows clearly the small open surface water areas representing (not always) beaver ponds. (Some of the black spots on the slopes are caused by cloud shadows).

This situation is similar to Canada's Beaver Capital located on the slopes of the Pasquia Hills in Saskatchewan.

See also:
http://www.geostrategis.com/p_beavers-pasquia.htm

www.geostrategis.com

--------------------
Jean Thie
Executive Director, Canadian Institute of Geomatics
www.geostrategis.com
Google Earth - An Exceptional Ecosystem Science Tool!
Monitor Permafrost Melting with Google Earth
Fire Ecosystem Interpretations with Google Earth
Map Glacial lake Agassiz!
Find the longest beaver dam in the World with Google Earth!

Edited by jean_thie (11/12/07 09:50 AM)

Post Extras