Emily Fairfax

Emily Fairfax
EducationCarleton College (B.A.), University of Colorado Boulder (Ph.D.)
OccupationsEcohydrologist, academic
EmployerUniversity of Minnesota
Known forResearch on beavers and wildfire resilience
Websitehttps://www.emilyfairfaxscience.com

Emily Fairfax is an American ecohydrologist and assistant professor of geography at the University of Minnesota. She studies how beavers create drought- and wildfire-resistant patches in riparian landscapes. Her work has received international media attention, informed land management policy in the western United States, and provided the scientific basis for the Pixar animated film Hoppers (2026).

Education and career

Fairfax dual majored in Chemistry and Physics at Carleton College, then earned her Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2019.[1] Her doctoral studies were funded by a DoD NDSEG Fellowship, and she completed graduate certificates in Hydrologic Sciences and in College Teaching.[2] She has cited her experience as a Girl Scout and leading canoe trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area as formative influences on her interest in wetland ecology.[3]

Fairfax was an assistant professor of Environmental Science and Resource Management at California State University Channel Islands from 2019 to 2023. She joined the University of Minnesota in 2023 as an assistant professor of Physical Geography,[4] where she is affiliated with the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory.[5]

In 2024, Fairfax was selected as an Environment Fellow by the Walton Family Foundation[6] and received the G.K. Gilbert Award for Excellence in Geomorphological Research from the American Association of Geographers. In 2025, she was awarded a McKnight Land-Grant Professorship at the University of Minnesota.[7]

Research

See also: Environmental impacts of beavers

Fairfax studies how ecosystem engineering by beavers affects the drought and fire resistance of wetland and riparian ecosystems in North America, using remote sensing, modeling, and field work. Her 2020 study "Smokey the Beaver," coauthored with Andrew Whittle, was the first peer-reviewed study to document beaver-created fire refugia.[8]

In 2023, Fairfax and collaborators at Google published EEAGER (Earth Engine Automated Geospatial Element(s) Recognition), a machine learning model for identifying beaver dams in satellite and aerial imagery.[9][10]

Public and policy impact

Fairfax's research has drawn wide public attention for demonstrating that beaver activity can protect landscapes from wildfire and drought. Her "Smokey the Beaver" study received coverage in National Geographic,[11] the BBC,[12] NPR,[13] the New York Times,[14] and Scientific American.[15]

She has testified before the Oregon State Legislature on beaver-driven climate resilience,[16] and her studies are cited in reports by the United Nations Environment Programme[17] and the Colorado Department of Transportation.[18]

Hoppers

Fairfax served as the primary science consultant for the Pixar animated film Hoppers (2026), providing scientific guidance from 2021 through the film's release and accompanying the art team to field research sites in Colorado and Wyoming.[19][20] A character in the film, Dr. Samantha E. Fairfax, was named after her.[21]

References

  1. ^ "Emily Fairfax". Natural Areas Association. NAA. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  2. ^ Kearns, Faith (April 28, 2020). "From being an engineer to researching nature's engineers". UC ANR Forest and Research Outreach. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  3. ^ Fairfax, Emily (March 7, 2019). "How a Beaver Became a Twitter Star". Edge Effects. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  4. ^ "New faculty joining GES". UMN GES News. April 7, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  5. ^ "SAFL Affiliated Faculty". SAFL. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  6. ^ Foundation, Walton Family. "Ahead of Earth Day, Walton Family Foundation Announces Emily Fairfax and Meaghan Parker as New Environment Fellows". PRNewswire (Press release). Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  7. ^ "Scholars Walk". Scholar's Walk. University of Minnesota. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  8. ^ Fairfax, Emily; Whittle, Andrew (September 2, 2020). "Smokey the Beaver: beaver-dammed riparian corridors stay green during wildfire throughout the western United States". Ecological Applications. 30 (8): e02225. Bibcode:2020EcoAp..30E2225F. doi:10.1002/eap.2225. PMID 32881199. S2CID 221475263.
  9. ^ Fairfax, Emily; Zhu, Eric; Clinton, Nicholas; Maiman, Stafania; Shaikh, Aman; Macfarlane, William; Wheaton, Joseph; Ackerstein, Dan; Corwin, Eddie (May 27, 2023). "EEAGER: A Neural Network Model for Finding Beaver Complexes in Satellite and Aerial Imagery". Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 128 (6). Bibcode:2023JGRG..12807196F. doi:10.1029/2022JG007196. S2CID 258952955.
  10. ^ Derouin, Sarah (June 16, 2023). "Mapping beaver dams with machine learning". Eos. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  11. ^ Goldfarb, Ben. "How beavers became North America's best firefighter". National Geographic. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  12. ^ "The US is bringing back nature's best firefighters: beavers". BBC. January 11, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2026.
  13. ^ "Beavers can teach researchers a thing or two about improving wildfire resistance". NPR Morning Edition. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  14. ^ Einhorn, Catrin (September 6, 2022). "It Was War. Then, a Rancher's Truce With Some Pesky Beavers Paid Off". New York Times. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  15. ^ Cusick, Daniel (July 11, 2022). "The Beaver Emerges as a 'Climate-Solving Hero'". Scientific American. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  16. ^ "HB 3464 Testimony List". Oregon State Legislature. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  17. ^ "Spreading Like Wildfire: the Rise of Extraordinary Landscape Fires". United Nations Environment Programme. February 22, 2022.
  18. ^ Millman, Katherine. "Beaver Management Along Roads and Within the Right-of-Way: Report and Recommendations for the Colorado Department of Transportation" (PDF). Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  19. ^ Marohn, Kirsti (March 4, 2026). "University of Minnesota expert helped make animated beavers in 'Hoppers' true to life". MPR News. Retrieved March 11, 2026.
  20. ^ Reif, Alex (February 26, 2026). "The Real Beaver Science Behind Pixar's "Hoppers"". Laughing Place. Retrieved March 11, 2026.
  21. ^ "Meet the UMN beaver expert with a 'Hoppers' character named for her". Twin Cities. March 1, 2026. Retrieved March 11, 2026.
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