SULA — Outside Sula, crews are busy as beavers, literally, mimicking beaver dams as part of a collaborative project to restore the headwaters of the East Fork of the Bitterroot River.“Basically, we’re doing a probably poor job of imitating beavers,” said Damon Tucker, restoration project manager for the Bitterroot Water Partnership. “We’re building structures similar to a beaver dam, like they would have built in this meadow historically, to capture water to spread that water out along this historic meadow.”Watch the story here:
People mimic beavers to improve wildland
Tolan Creek is key for the Bitterroot River, feeding water from the mountains into the headwaters of the East Fork. But, the area has not been the same since the Trail Ridge Fire burned through in 2022.“Following that, serious rain-on-snow events created several major landslides, which effectively buried what we’re standing in in 20-30 feet of soil, rock and large trees,” Tucker said. “When this landslide occurred, you could see the chocolate water that this sediment erosion caused down in the East Fork.”For two years, Bitterroot Water Partnership, Bitterroot National Forest and local volunteers have been working together to reverse the damage.“It basically reset the stream, so we’re trying to bring that back from the warm, shallow waters it has been the last few years to a thriving wetland meadow and a thriving stream,” Tucker said.In wetlands like the one surrounding Tolan Creek, beavers historically would build dams, capturing water and spreading it throughout the meadow. To restore the area, the team is building like the beavers, creating structures similar to beaver dams, known as beaver dam analogs.“We lay in posts, we take a lot of vegetation from the nearby area and we basket weave all that together to create those dams and spread that water out over time,” Tucker said. “We’ve also done a substantial amount of work upstream to mitigate some of that sediment and heavy rock and wood coming back down into this meadow again.”Tucker said the teamwork between the Bitterroot Water Partnership, the Forest Service and volunteer organizations has been key to making the restoration a reality.“Last year, we had Two Wolf Foundation come out and help us with a lot of the beaver dam installations and, this year, we’ve got Trapper Creek Job Corps coming out to help us as well. So, it takes a village to do this kind of stuff,” he said. “I’m really enjoying getting to work with great people and, and get this done.”Last week, crews were busy along the creek, building and repairing beaver dam analogs. As they worked, the water’s flow changed, meandering more through the meadow.“It’s really exciting. Restoration, it can be a very patient endeavor a lot of times. This has a lot of instant gratification to it,” Tucker said. “That’s kind of great! You get to see that dam immediately capture water, immediately spread that water out across the meadow and so it’s really invigorating to get to work on this kind of project and watch it happen quickly.”There are 43 dams right now, with more on the way, and many more pieces that make up the restoration project. As the stream passes through the dams, the meadow and into the East Fork, it will spread the project’s benefits as it goes.“Just spreading that water out more and more throughout this meadow, that’s the ultimate goal each season,” Tucker said. “Protecting these areas protects everything downstream. So, whether it’s Tolan Creek or Reimel or any of the other tributaries up here in the East Fork, they all affect the Bitterroot River in the long run.”