Stream Restoration
- Position: Monitoring & Restoration Lead
- Employer: Anabranch Solutions
- Location: Utah (& surrounding states)
- Time: June 2024 – Present
I like to refer to this job as being a human beaver. Running chainsaws, dragging sticks, throwing logs, digging dirt … all with soggy feet. Definitely not everyone’s cup of tea but I absolutely love it!
The more technical name for this work is low-tech process-based restoration.
- low-tech = built by hand, not excavators
- process-based = focused on improving habitat through riverscape processes
What this means in practice is that we build wood jams and beaver mimicry structures to introduce more complexity. Historically, many rivers have had wood removed. Returning wood to rivers can enable rivers to reshape themselves and improve ecological function. (this is the extremely simplified version of the story, I could talk your ear off for hours getting into the details and nuance)
As for what my role looks like, so far it’s mainly been the manual labor of building structures that I described at the beginning. But I’ve also worked on a monitoring project, crew hiring and management, and I’m starting to get into more project management tasks like permitting, assessment, and design. I love thinking about watershed processes so it’s been really neat to explore that across a variety of settings and I’m excited to continue learning as I see more systems and get involved with more elements of project implementation.