HANDOUTS

We used a field notebook to collate all the handouts used in the field portion of the workshop (and for a few in-class exercises). 

Day 1 - LUNCH TIME STORY

Idaho rancher Jay Wilde from Mink Creek will share his story about reintroducing beaver into Birch Creek to try to restore perennial flow to the creek he, his family and his livestock depend on.  
Jay's story is mentioned in this June 7th Article in Science! Jay is also featured in Ben Goldfarb's new book: Eager.

TNC's Red Canyon Ranch

All of our Day 2 field activities will take place on the Nature Conservancy's Red Canyon Ranch. Red Canyon is a tributary to the Little Popo Agie River in the Popo Agie Watershed outside Lander, Wyoming.
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Read TNC's Ecological Management Plan

extra Field Handouts

All handouts came from our  field notebook, but when participants rotated through the 'Zeedyk Structures' station to build some one rock dams and Zuni Bowls, Jeremy handed out a pocket copy of the Quivira Coalition's Erosion Control Field Guide, by Sponholtz & Anderson. 
See other resources below too! 

Presentations & SLIDES

Day 1: Restoring process & function in riparian areas

Morning: Background & Context

Video from similar presentation Jeremy gave at Society of Range Management meeting in Reno this year: Restoring and Managing the “Emerald Islands” of the Sagebrush Sea: New Science, Sticks and Stones, and the Eager Beaver.

Afternoon - Restoring Process & Function in Riparian Areas
Although enthusiasm has grown recently, this is not the first or last round of enthusiasm for beaver or low-cost, simple structures. Joe highlights some of this above, but the link below draws on examples here in the US from the 1930s and in France from the 1860s. These ideas have been around for a long time.

Implementing BDAs as low-cost restoration tools
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"BDAs, HDLWD, PALS, Selective Felling, Grip Hoisting & Zeedyk Structures" (i.e. an overview of various low-cost, cheap and cheerful structure types)
​- Scott Shahveridan (Anabranch, USU)
Scott is an experienced designer and geomorphologist of Anabranch Solutions. He regularly helps clients plan, permit, design, build and monitor different types of structures.
Although Nick Bouwes was not part of this workshop, an elaborated view of what Steve covered on Bridge Creek is shown in the slides below:
A few of the Bridge Creek Publications we discussed:
Since we rushed a little through this topic at end of Day 1, I, I recorded you a little video of this lecture and a live demo of some of the BRAT, RCAT and other planning tools..

OTHER RESOURCES

 NRCS has developed a number of supporting documents under Conservation Practice 643 to support planning and implementation of cheap and cheerful restoration techniques. 
Click on album above to see photos from the workshop, or to add your own!

Permit APPLICATIONS for Wyoming

In order to install low-cost, instream structures in the State of Wyoming you need to file for a CWA §401 Water Quality Certification from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, and  a  pre-construction notification (NWP Condition 32) with the US Army Corps of Engineers, who will subsequently determine what additional NW permits may be necessary. Always contact your USACE and DEQ staff representatives ahead of time to discuss what permits may be required for your project.

In addition, BDAs may require a surface water storage right (SW-3 Reservoirs or SW-3A Special Reservoirs) from the Wyoming State Engineer's Office. 
Examples of some of these documents from what we installed on Red Canyon Ranch during the workshop are available below (contact John Coffman (TNC) for more information on that specific project or for examples). 

PLANNING & Prioritization TOOLS

 In Joe's lecture on "Where? Picking the right places to work" he mentioned the Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool (BRAT), the Valley Bottom Extraction tool and the Riparian Condition Assessment Tool (RCAT). All these GIS tools are freely available, documented and open-source (part of Riverscapes Consortium family of tools).  Specific outputs from these tools are also available The Wheaton ET-AL lab has already run BRAT & RCAT for the entire state of Utah thanks to support from 
Both Jeremy and Nick also mentioned easy-to-use web tools for looking a NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and derivatives for looking at mesic habitat resources (SGI Mesic Habitat Resources) to learn about riparian vegetation through time. Check out the links by clicking on SGI Map or Climate Engine below! 
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An output of BRAT for Popo Agie Watershed showing existing dam building capacities.

More information on 'zeedyk structures',  and low cost erosion control structures

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In addition to the Erosion Control Field Guide you received in the field prepared by the Quirva Coalition, NRCS Colorado released a new technical note that explains how to use cost-effective structures to improve riparian areas and wet meadows in sagebrush country.

Featuring successful collaborative projects in the Upper Gunnison River Basin, this technical note is geared toward resource managers looking for relatively simple solutions for addressing shallow headcuts or small gullies impacting the productivity rangelands. 
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It provides information and references that help field practitioners get started by identifying opportunities, prioritizing and planning treatments, and implementing similar projects in watersheds across the West.
Bill Zeedyk and Van Clothier's Let the Water do the Work, is an excellent resource for getting up to speed on process-based restoration using these types of structures.  ​

Topics or resources individuals asked for during workshop NOT LISTED ABOVE

Fish passage came up... as it often does. See Kemp et al. (2012) for a review and the following:

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