NRCS / WLFW LOW-TECH RIPARIAN RESTORATION WORKSHOPS - Lewistown Montana
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Natural Resource Conservation Service Funded & Co-Taught Workshop
Utah State University Workshop Lead
Anabranch Solutions Donated Materials & Staff & Loaned Equipment
Project Goals and Objectives
This was not a full restoration project, but instead a low-tech PBR workshop (http://lowtechpbr.restoration.usu.edu/workshops/2019/SGI/Venues/mt.html). The goals of the actual structures installed were to give workshop participants first hand experience building a mix of low-tech structures. For the landowners, the goals were to improve riverscape health and resilience to drought and floods. There were some beaver further downstream on Bear Creek and within a few months they moved upstream and co-opted and greatly expanded the zone of influence of the structures.
Structure Construction Elements
As this was a LTPBR workshop (http://lowtechpbr.restoration.usu.edu/workshops/2019/SGI/Venues/mt.html), each construction crew experimented with a mix of structure types (e.g. post-assisted and postless beaver dam analogues, and bank-attached, mid-channel and channel-spanning post-assited log structures). See albums and videos from workshop pages. We used primarily onsite materials from the adjacent prairie, and some conifers from some nearby conifer removal efforts. Untreated wooden fence posts were used for the post-assisted structures.
Project Photos
Cover Photo