Beaver Dam Analog

Southeast Idaho's Jason Fellows and his brother build Beaver dam analogues, essentially trying to duplicate what beavers do in an effort to store water better during spring runoff. This is the perfect case where farmers and ranchers help to sustain wildlife habitat.

My brother and I were able to remember where the actual beaver dams were when we were kids and we were pounding posts in where those natural beaver dams used to be. And it's amazing how it changed just the vegetation and how much wetter the creek has stayed throughout the year since we put them in four years ago. We've probably doubled the amount of water we see in September. If you look at some of the wildfires that have been in the West lately, if there's been beaver dams in the creek, it doesn't ever burn down by the beaver dams and it burns stays clear up high on the mountain wherever that water has actually sucked the soil. And so we're able to bank that water with the hydrology of the soil. And it's amazing what they actually can do to help sustain life, because that gives an opportunity for cows. Wildlife, all types of species to get out of those passive fire. The one thing that we all need to be sustained is water. We decided we would implement Bdas on our project to make our creek more sustainable for many stakeholders wildlife, cattle and our property. It's a great thing for all of us to be looking at options to be more sustainable and to keep water higher on the mountain because everybody benefits down the road. To reiterate that everybody includes wildlife habitat.