Beaver Assisted Restoration
  • Home
    • Beaver News
  • About Workshops
    • Recommended Readings
    • Learning Outcomes
    • Inquiries
    • USU Course Policies
  • Your Workshop
    • Upcoming & Current Workshops & Courses >
      • Open Erollment >
        • 2019 - Beaver Translocation
        • 2019 - USU WATS 6860 >
          • Course Materials
        • 2019 -Construction Workshop
      • Bespoke/Private >
        • 2019 SGI LTPBR
    • Past Workshops & Courses >
      • Open Enrollment >
        • 2011 - ICRRR Workshop
        • 2012 - ICRRR Workshop
        • 2017 - USU WATS 6860 >
          • Course Materials
        • 2018 - USU WATS 6860 >
          • Course Materials
        • 2018 -Construction Workhsop
      • Bespoke >
        • 2012 - UWCC Workshop
        • 2013 - RRNW Short Course
        • 2013 - NRCS Workshop
        • 2014 - Klamath Watershed Partnership /OWEB Workshop
        • 2015 - UDWR Workshop
        • 2015 - USFS Workshop
        • 2016 - SGI Workshop
        • 2018 - John Day Workshop
        • 2018 - NRCS, PF, SGI >
          • NRCS - Idaho >
            • Workshop Materials
          • NRCS - Utah >
            • Cedar City Workshop Materials
            • Logan Workshop Materials
          • NRCS - Wyoming >
            • Lander Workshop Materials
          • NRCS - Nevada >
            • Elko Workshop Materials
          • NRCS Specific Resources
  • Resources
    • Restoration Manual
    • Beaver Restoration Topics >
      • Beaver Ecology & Hydrogeomorphic Feedbacks >
        • Introductions, Expectations & Overview
        • Beaver Ecology & History
        • Ecological & Hydrogeomorphic Feedbacks of Beaver Dams
        • Monitoring Beaver Activity - Understanding the Beaver Dam Cycle
      • Restoration & Conservation Regulations >
        • Potential Problems Using Beaver for Restoration & Conservation
        • Overview of Conservation & Restoration Practices
        • Existing Beaver Restoration Projects
        • Regulatory Framework Relevant to Beaver
        • Expectation Management: Communicating to Public/Stakeholders/Decision Makers
        • Assessing Potential for Beaver in Restoration & Conservation
        • Field Examples of Assessing Capacity of Landscape to Support Beaver
      • Designing & Monitoring Restoration Projects With Beaver >
        • General Design Considerations & Concepts
        • Design Process at Bridge Creek
        • Monitoring Design, Maintenance & Adaptive Management
        • Monitoring Findings in Bridge Creek
        • Curtis Creek Field Trip
    • Beaver Literature
    • Interesting Links
    • Videos & Movies
    • Need Help Planning, Designing & Building?
    • External LInks >
      • BRAT - Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool
      • Restoration Consortium @ USU
      • The Beaver Institute
      • Wheaton ETAL Lab
      • Anabranch Solutions

2016 - Sage Grouse Initiative, Pheasants Forever & NRCS 
​
Beaver Workshop

Logan, Utah
Enhancing Mesic Habitat Resilience in Sagebrush Ecosystems: Beaver Dam Analogues as a Low-Cost Restoration Tool
​

Sponsors:

Picture
Picture
Picture

Background

Through SGI 2.0, NRCS has committed to work with landowners and partners to help protect and restore mesic habitats, such as riparian and wet meadow areas, to benefit sage-grouse. While a variety of mesic conservation strategies exist, relatively simple and low-cost alternatives are a potentially important part of toolbox for restoration at scales relevant to sage-grouse. Over the last decade, a renewed recognition of the role of the once widespread beaver has revealed insights about how this ecosystem engineer greatly impacts riparian function and accelerates recovery of degraded systems. Drawing upon lessons learned about how nature heals systems, Beaver Dam Analogues (BDAs) have emerged as a low-cost restoration tool designed to mimic beaver activity to restore hydrologic function and ecological processes in incised channels. BDAs are becoming an increasingly popular bioengineering technique employed by partners across the West and early results show promise for rapidly achieving a variety of riparian goals. 

Purpose & Need 
There is a need to convene key interdisciplinary staff to evaluate low-cost, low-risk techniques that can be implemented across large scales to meet mesic habitat restoration goals. This workshop will discuss how to restore hydrologic processes that promote riparian resilience and mesic vegetation, identify opportunities for restoration, and examine how BDAs can be applied as a bioengineering technique to achieve SGI mesic habitat goals. Participants will gain knowledge and skills needed to design and implement appropriate low-cost practices and foster technology transfer within their respective work areas. 

Anticipated Participants 
(~40)  Primarily NRCS staff, some partners. NRCS SGI states would select key representatives involved in mesic restoration to participate. Anticipated NRCS participants include state/area/local specialists (biologists/engineers) and select field staff. States may also opt to invite a key partner who is invested locally in helping get mesic conservation on the ground. The overall goal is to build a cadre of staff to evaluate the technique and serve as local sources of expertise across the range. ​

Hosts:

Utah State University: Joe Wheaton, Steve Bennett, Nick Bouwes; NRCS West NTSC: Jeremy Maestas, Marcus Miller, Timmie Mandish, NRCS SGI: Thad Heater;
Point-of-contact: Jeremy Maestas, 
 
jeremy.maestas@por.usda.gov, 503-273-2425
Picture
To find LIB 101 , walk through the main entrance to the library, and walk back toward the stairs and restrooms. The class room is to the left of the restrooms.  See here for an interactive campus map. 
​
Picture

Workshop Lecture Slides

DAY 1
Background & Context
(A)
  • Why are we here? (Maestas)
  • Introductions & Overview (Wheaton)
  • How do we tackle problem and what might success look like? (Maestas)
Reading the Riparian Landscape
  • (B) Understanding the landscape context for riparian areas (Wheaton)
  • (C)  Riparian Ecology Background (Miller)
  • (D)  What processes are ‘broken’ in riparian areas? Condition Assessment (Wheaton)
  •  (E)  Tools for documenting mesic habitat resource concerns (Mandish, Maestas & Miller)
Recap and Preview
  •  (F) Why did we cover all this today? Where are we going the next two days. The Beaver Premise. (Bouwes, Maestas & Wheaton)
See here for more videos.
DAY 2  
Lectures & Discussion
  • (G) Overview of Riparian Impairments and Riparian Restoration (Bouwes) 
  • (H) Recovery vs. Restoration - Role of Beaver? (Wheaton)
  • (I) Beaver as Ecosystem Engineers (Bouwes)
Low Cost Techniques Case Studies 
  • (J) Overview of Multiple (Wheaton)  
  • (K) HDLWD & PALs on Asotin (Bennett)  
  • (L) Letting the River do the Work - Zeedyk (Miller)
  • (M) Bridge Creek IMW (Bouwes)
Where? Picking the right places to work (Mandish & Wheaton) 
  • (N) NRCS context for where to work (Mandish)  
  • (O) Beaver Capacity (Wheaton)
Note: All slides license with a Creative Commons Attibution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.01 Unported License.
View the SGI Workshop Album
  1. Portugal, E., Wheaton, JM., Sorenson, K., Majerova, M., Hunt, B., Bouwes, N. 2015. Hardware Ranch Adaptive Beaver Management Plan. Prepared for Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Logan, Utah. 26 Pages. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.29887.30883 ​

Syllabus:


Driving Instructions to Temple Fork:
Picture
Pheasants Forever - USU SGI Workshop Report Memo
File Size: 1216 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Workshops

Current Workshops
​Past Workshops

Organizers

Utah State University Restoration Consortium
​USU - Watershed Sciences Department
Joe Wheaton
Wheaton ETAL  Lab @ Fluvial Habitats Center
​Anabranch Solutions

Support

Contact
Beyond Workshops... Need help getting started?

Picture
  • Home
    • Beaver News
  • About Workshops
    • Recommended Readings
    • Learning Outcomes
    • Inquiries
    • USU Course Policies
  • Your Workshop
    • Upcoming & Current Workshops & Courses >
      • Open Erollment >
        • 2019 - Beaver Translocation
        • 2019 - USU WATS 6860 >
          • Course Materials
        • 2019 -Construction Workshop
      • Bespoke/Private >
        • 2019 SGI LTPBR
    • Past Workshops & Courses >
      • Open Enrollment >
        • 2011 - ICRRR Workshop
        • 2012 - ICRRR Workshop
        • 2017 - USU WATS 6860 >
          • Course Materials
        • 2018 - USU WATS 6860 >
          • Course Materials
        • 2018 -Construction Workhsop
      • Bespoke >
        • 2012 - UWCC Workshop
        • 2013 - RRNW Short Course
        • 2013 - NRCS Workshop
        • 2014 - Klamath Watershed Partnership /OWEB Workshop
        • 2015 - UDWR Workshop
        • 2015 - USFS Workshop
        • 2016 - SGI Workshop
        • 2018 - John Day Workshop
        • 2018 - NRCS, PF, SGI >
          • NRCS - Idaho >
            • Workshop Materials
          • NRCS - Utah >
            • Cedar City Workshop Materials
            • Logan Workshop Materials
          • NRCS - Wyoming >
            • Lander Workshop Materials
          • NRCS - Nevada >
            • Elko Workshop Materials
          • NRCS Specific Resources
  • Resources
    • Restoration Manual
    • Beaver Restoration Topics >
      • Beaver Ecology & Hydrogeomorphic Feedbacks >
        • Introductions, Expectations & Overview
        • Beaver Ecology & History
        • Ecological & Hydrogeomorphic Feedbacks of Beaver Dams
        • Monitoring Beaver Activity - Understanding the Beaver Dam Cycle
      • Restoration & Conservation Regulations >
        • Potential Problems Using Beaver for Restoration & Conservation
        • Overview of Conservation & Restoration Practices
        • Existing Beaver Restoration Projects
        • Regulatory Framework Relevant to Beaver
        • Expectation Management: Communicating to Public/Stakeholders/Decision Makers
        • Assessing Potential for Beaver in Restoration & Conservation
        • Field Examples of Assessing Capacity of Landscape to Support Beaver
      • Designing & Monitoring Restoration Projects With Beaver >
        • General Design Considerations & Concepts
        • Design Process at Bridge Creek
        • Monitoring Design, Maintenance & Adaptive Management
        • Monitoring Findings in Bridge Creek
        • Curtis Creek Field Trip
    • Beaver Literature
    • Interesting Links
    • Videos & Movies
    • Need Help Planning, Designing & Building?
    • External LInks >
      • BRAT - Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool
      • Restoration Consortium @ USU
      • The Beaver Institute
      • Wheaton ETAL Lab
      • Anabranch Solutions