I'm Cherie, an ecohydrology professor in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Saskatchewan. I am also an Associate Director of the Centre for Hydrology and a member of the Global Institute of Water Security.

Beaver Ecohydrology Lab

We study how beavers reorganize water across landscapes. 

Our research focuses on how beaver ecosystem engineering alters hydrological connectivity, flowpaths, and water storage, and how these changes cascade to influence water quality, carbon dynamics, and ecological systems (including wildlife use and vegetation patterns) under a changing climate. Working across mountain peatlands, and increasingly in northern permafrost regions, we investigate both the stabilizing and disruptive effects of beaver activity, from restoring degraded systems to transforming previously unimpacted environments. 

By combining field-based measurements, remote sensing, and modeling, we develop new frameworks for understanding how beaver activities rewire surface and subsurface ecohydrology. This work reveals how beavers create “slow water” landscapes, redistribute water in space and time, and generate biogeochemical and ecological hotspots. 

Our research supports both fundamental advances in ecohydrology and applied challenges in environmental management. In southern systems, we provide the science for leveraging beavers for ecosystem restoration and climate adaptation. In northern regions, where beavers are rapidly expanding, we are developing new research to understand how their activities interact with permafrost, hydrological processes, and wildlife to produce novel and sometimes unexpected outcomes. 

If you are interested in ecohydrology, climate-driven landscape change, or nature-based solutions, we welcome inquiries from prospective students, collaborators, and partners.