Land & Environment

Building Beaver Dams: USU Students and Volunteers Team Up In Habitat Restoration Project

By Taylor Emerson |

Video by Taylor Emerson, Digital Journalist, University Marketing & Communications

On Saturday, USU students built beaver dam analogs along about a half-mile privately-owned stretch of Birch Creek located just outside of Preston, Idaho.

The goal of the project is to help improve the riverscape’s heath and to restore perennial flow back to a creek that had as of recently been drying up in June. It was done in partnership with the landowner, Jay Wilde, an Idaho rancher who teamed up with USU Professor Joseph Wheaton to help restore the creek back to a year-round water source.

According to Wheaton, through work previously done upstream, flows in Birch Creek have been extended to September. This most recent work was done as a capstone project in the WATS 5350/6350 class, and as a part of the curriculum for the WATS 5624/CEWA 5624 course.

VIDEOGRAPHER

Taylor Emerson
Digital Journalist
University Marketing and Communications
(435) 797-2262
Taylor.Emerson@usu.edu

CONTACT

Joe Wheaton
Associate Professor and Fluvial Geomorphologist
S. J. Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources
435-5554-1247
joe.wheaton@usu.edu


TOPICS

Water 254stories Ecosystems 129stories Land Management 121stories Animals 89stories Service Learning 72stories

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