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

Logan WORKSHOP MATERIALS

handouts, slides, & other references
↑ Take me Back to Utah Workshop Main Page
Picture

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). 
Download Workshop Field Notebook
Picture

Day 1 - Evening STORY

Picture
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.  
Picture
"Ranchers & Scientists Helping Rodents Mitigate Drought - The Story of Bringing Beaver Back to Birch Creek" 
- Jay Wilde (Diamondback W Ranch)
​

Picture
Jay's story is mentioned in this June 7th Article in Science! Jay is also featured in Ben Goldfarb's new book: Eager.
Picture

Station & BIRCH Creek


Another Cattlemen's story

Hear about the transformation of the Elko Land  Livestock Ranch from Jon Griggs: 

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. 
Picture
See other resources below too! 

Presentations & SLIDES

Day 1: Restoring process & function in riparian areas

Picture
Introduction & Overview Slides

Morning: Background & Context

Picture
Picture
"Why are we here? Building resiliency for wildlife and working lands"
​- Jeremy Maestas (NRCS)
Thanks to Michael Brown from Pheasants Forever for delivering Jeremy's talk in Logan!
Picture
Jeremy mentioned in his talk:
  • The 'Fur Desert' policy. Here's Jennifer Ott's paper in Oregon Historical Society that recounts that story; &
  • Nick Silverman's recent Restoration Ecology paper.

See also papers below.
Picture
Picture
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.

Picture
Picture
"Applying Process-based Stream Restoration: A Developing Low-Tech Philosophy"
​- Steve Bennett (USU, Anabranch)

Below is a video of Steve's talk in case you missed it:

Picture
Picture
"Healthy Streams & Riparian Zones"
​- Joe Wheaton (USU, Anabranch)

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.
Nothing is Really New... References

Implementing BDAs as low-cost restoration tools

Picture
 
Picture
"High Density Large Woody Debris: A low-tech PBR Method"
​- Steve Bennett (USU, Anabranch)


 
Picture
Picture
Picture
"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.
Picture

 Nick Bouwes shared some of the science behind BDAs and the Bridge Creek IMW with us:
Picture
Picture
"Bridge Creek Intensively Monitored Watershed - Restoring Steelhead Populations & Incised Streams"
​- Nick Bouwes (Anabranch, Eco Logical Research, USU)

A few of the Bridge Creek Publications we discussed:
Picture
Picture
Picture
Nick's slides (above) are elaborated in the video below of Nick's talk from a webinar he gave for USFWS a few years ago. It includes the Bridge Creek work. 

 
We heard from Jared McKee  and Damion Ciotti's in Nevada (not in Logan) about their work on Doty Creek. We share their Slides on 'Embracing Chaos' below and related video at right because it is such a relevant example.
Picture

 
Picture
Picture
"Where? Picking the right places to work"
​- Joe Wheaton (USU, Anabranch)

See also Planning Tools & Resources
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. This example is currently for Wyoming. I will update it shortly.

Picture
Picture
"Adaptive Management, Pilots, Maintenance & Expectation Management"
​- Joe Wheaton (USU, Anabranch)
See also Adaptive Management Examples
Picture
 

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. 
NRCS Specific Resources on BDAs as Recognized Conservation Practice
Picture
Click on album above to see photos from the workshop, or to add your own!

Permit Package APPLICATIONS for Utah

Picture
In order to install low-cost, instream structures in the State of Utah, a stream alteration permit is potentially required. To do this for the workshop, we applied for such a permit using the US Army Corps of Engineers and Utah Division of Water Resources, Joint Application Form. At left, is a completed example for the Birch Creek Application. On UDWR's website, you can find the complete permit application, correspondence and determination letter. 

This example from the workshop helps highlight the sort of information that can be used to put together a successful permit application.

You may also find this design report helpful as an example for minimal reporting and documentation examples:
  • Shahverdian, SM. and Wheaton, JM. 2017. Birch Creek Restoration Design Report​. Prepared for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources by Anabranch Solutions, LLC. Newton, UT. 26 Pages. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.11439.84646
Picture

 

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 
Picture
Picture
Picture
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! 
Picture
Picture
Picture
An output of BRAT for Upper Humboldt River Watershed showing existing dam building capacities.
 

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

Picture
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. 
​
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.

Read more about Starter Guide
Picture
Picture
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.  ​
↑ Take me Back to Utah Workshop Main Page

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:
  • ​Kemp PS, Worthington TA, Langford TEL, Tree ARJ and Gaywood MJ. 2012. Qualitative and quantitative effects of reintroduced beavers on stream fish. Fish and Fisheries. 13(2): 158-181. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-2979.2011.00421.x.
  • Lokteff RL*, Roper B and Wheaton JM. 2013. Do beaver dams impede the movement of trout?  Transactions of American Fisheries Society. DOI: 10.1080/00028487.2013.797497.
  • Bouwes N, Weber N, Jordan CE, Saunders WC, Tattam IA, Volk C, Wheaton JM and Pollock MM. 2016.  Ecosystem experiment reveals benefits of natural and simulated beaver dams to a threatened population of steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Scientific Reports. 6: 28581. DOI: 10.1038/srep28581.
​The Fur Desert Policy
  • Ott J, Ruining the Rivers in the Snake Country - The Hudson's Bay Company's Fur Desert Policy. Oregon Historical Quarterly. 104 (2) 166- 195.
Resilience of Mesic Habitats
  • Silverman NL, Allred BW, Donnelly JP, Chapman TB, Maestas JD, Wheaton J, White J and Naugle DE. 2018. Low-tech riparian and wet meadow restoration increases vegetation productivity and resilience across semi-arid rangelands. Restoration Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/rec.12869.​

Picture

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