Stream temperature is a fundamental measure of stream health, shaping aquatic ecosystems by influencing the physical, chemical, and biological conditions essential for species survival. In the Tualatin River Basin, stream temperatures are increasingly impacted by climate change and urban development. Rising air temperatures, reduced summer flows, and the expansion of urban surfaces have led to warmer stream conditions, with the summer of 2021 recording some of the highest stream temperatures on record.

To address these challenges, recent restoration efforts in temperature-impaired segments focus on improving riparian shading, restoring stream complexity, and managing water flow. Alongside these restoration efforts, beaver activity has become more common in the basin’s smaller stream reaches, such as those in Chicken, Fanno, and Springville Creeks. Beaver dams contribute to reach-scale thermal variability by creating ponded areas with diverse microhabitats and temperature gradients. This contrasts with more channelized reaches, which typically maintain consistent temperatures but lack the habitat diversity that beaver-impounded areas provide​.

While previous studies in the Tualatin River Basin primarily examined broad watershed processes—such as basin-wide temperature trading and general climate effects—this project uses a fine-scale approach. Through Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS), we gather high-resolution temperature data along specific stream reaches. This allows us to analyze how local factors like beaver dams and riparian shading influence daily temperature fluctuations and create thermal microhabitats that can enhance biodiversity and ecological resilience​