2025 MENV PROJECT

The Social & Ecological Considerations for Beaver Coexistence & Relocation Projects Along the Front Range

For nine-years, The Boulder Watershed Collective (BWC) has worked within the Boulder Creek Watershed and beyond to cultivate partnerships, promote community stewardship, and revitalize social and ecological systems. BWC intimately understands the inseparable relationships of forests and streams, wildfires and healthy riparian corridors, and ecosystems and the people living, working and recreating within them. In 2020 after local large wildfires occurred in Boulder County, BWC conducted a Sediment Source and Storage Study for Disaster Planning. This study analyzed and identified locations in the Boulder Creek Watershed that are natural sediment deposition areas. Based on the results of this study, BWC has worked to identify sites for meadow restoration that can support natural sediment deposition and floodplain expansion. This laid the groundwork for a multi-strategy approach to meadow, riparian and stream restoration - in particular, initiating BWC’s beaver coexistence and relocation projects. 

As a keystone species in Colorado, beavers and their well-constructed beaver dams slow, sink, and spread water beyond human-created channels, rehydrating parched landscapes. In a drier and drier climate, this change in water can recharge ground water, and raise water tables. It can help people access more year round benefits of discharge, as opposed to powerful rushes during flood events. And most recently, these ponded, wetland areas have been shown to slow wildfire spread and create wildlife refuges during wildfires. However, their constructions can pose challenges to beloved trees, roads, development, and water diversions. 

As BWC builds out these relocation programs and aspires to be a local conduit for beaver coexistence support, more could be understood about Front Range community member and practitioner perceptions of beavers, and the local ecological and geomorphic benefits. Especially critical is determining monitoring plans under BWC’s Watershed Program that align with our agency partners’ own datasets for a landscape scale picture.

We propose the following adaptable project goals:

  1. To write a comprehensive summary of Front Range municipalities, water management agencies, and community member’s current perceptions of beaver coexistence, and the nuanced challenges and successes of public and private land management and beaver coexistence. Specifically, this will include students 1) leading a small scale literature review of the dominant social and ecological dynamics of beaver coexistence and relocation projects, and 2) leading a small-scale social science investigation of agency and adjacent community member’s beaver coexistence perceptions through interviews/land walks, focus groups and/or visioning workshops (or other proposed methods).

  2. To co-create BWC’s Pilot Beaver Relocation & Low-tech Process Based Restoration (LTBPR) Monitoring Plan, including which metrics to collect in house, the rationale for what and how to collect metrics, and the protocols & template summary report.

  3. To lead data collection, assist with implementation, and draft summary reports of the pilot monitoring plan at 1-3 beaver relocation sites, before and after release, and LTPBR projects.

Capstone Motivation:

After four years working with MENV students, these collaborative graduate experiences significantly support BWC in better understanding, researching, and implementing strategies that help us, community members and our agency partners understand, and implement climate adaptation strategies. As our climate changes, populations grow, and ecosystems shift, it is crucial that we learn from the adaptive strategies and impactful solutions utilized in the natural world, including those from the industrious North American beaver. The support we have gained from past MENV students has significantly expanded BWC’s climate resilience impact in new communities beyond our current bandwidth, and we hope to apply this to this new approach BWC is taking. 

These professional development projects also empower the next generation of watershed practitioners. It is through this workforce development support that BWC has been fortunate to continue working and collaborating with 6 of our previous students - including hiring 3 at BWC!

Anticipated Deliverables:

We anticipate the following four deliverables. Depending on the student preferences, groups could split up their time or take the lead on various aspects of this project. This may create more group capacity and allow students to develop skills based on their interests and future career goals.

  1. Internal Report for BWC - Students will write a comprehensive report for BWC’s staff and Board members capturing the process and preliminary findings from (1) the literature review of the dominant social and ecological dynamics of beaver coexistence and relocation projects, and (2) the dominant themes surfaced from the social science investigation of local agency and adjacent community member’s beaver coexistence perceptions, challenges, and successes. This report will help BWC set a pathway forward to continue the legacy of this project’s goals. It will honestly capture the potential challenges and opportunities for BWC’s continued beaver coexistence projects.

  2. Pilot Monitoring Plan - Students will write a pilot monitoring plan for BWC’s beaver relocation and low-tech process based restoration projects. This will include monitoring objectives, which metrics to collect, process, and analyze in house or through contractors, the rationale for what and how to collect metrics (specifically aligned with agency partner’s metrics), the protocol details, and a template summary report. This plan will be used and adapted by BWC’s Watershed Program for continued monitoring efforts, and shared with other interested stakeholders.

  3. Draft Pilot Report(s) - Students will use the template monitoring report to write a final report synthesizing the pre-post beaver relocation ecological, stream, and geomorphic conditions from 1-3 sites, from data they helped collect. This report(s) will be used and adapted by BWC’s Watershed Specialist for continued monitoring efforts in years to come, and shared with BWC’s staff, Board, funding agencies, and other interested partners.

Required Skills + Experience:

  • Required Skills - 

    • An ability to work professionally with diverse stakeholder groups;

    • An ability to collect data in the field, including in streams, riparian areas, and meadows - potentially working longer field days (i.e. 8 hour day of field data collection);

    • Strong collaborative and interpersonal skills;

    • Strong writing and communication skills;

    • Ability to lead and work independently and initiate tasks and projects;

    • Desire to work in the field and interview others, as appropriate.

  • Preferred Skills

    • Experience leading interviews, facilitating meetings or focus groups;

    • Experience with stream or riparian data collection/field work;

    • Experience with general field work.

  • Skills Students will gain

    • Skills conducting a small-scale social science research project, including facilitating interviews/focus groups or creating a survey, and doing basic qualitative and/or quantitative analysis and trend reporting; 

    • Experience with ecology and geomorphology field data collection & basic pre-post analysis and trend reporting (e.g. stream flow, cross-section and stream profile);

    • Experience working with wildlife for restoration work;

    • Experience with stakeholder and multi-agency driven project planning.

Project Worksite + Location(s):

  • Project worksite: We plan to host both in-person and virtual meetings for internal team planning and work days, flexible to the team’s schedules. These will likely occur weekly or bi-weekly for 1-4 hours. In-person internal team meetings will be held at 1740 Fourmile Canyon Drive, Boulder 80302, or other commonly agreed designated workspaces (e.g. SEEC). 

  • Travel: There will be travel within Boulder County and in adjacent counties to field sites for data collection. Travel to these sites will be heaviest in the late spring through summer time. All sites are within 1.5 hours driving distance of CU’s main campus.

Compensation:

  • Compensation per team and per student: Currently, BWC has not yet acquired funding for this project - “no compensation”.  

  • Form and timing: If funding were to become available, we anticipate paying a combination of a one-time stipend of $4,000/student, and/or participation in Workforce Boulder County, which is income qualified funding. 

  • External grants: For the past two years, Boulder Watershed Collective has been funded by the Argosy Foundation for wildfire resilience and workforce development projects. If the Foundation is interested, we anticipate working with the student group to write a proposal in spring 2025 funding this project. In addition, previous BWC led MENV teams have worked with Workforce Boulder County to obtain stipends for their work at $20/hour. Additionally, for previous MENV projects, they pursued private grants in collaboration with BWC, and received these funds. BWC is committed to exploring these compensation options as well as any others, however payment is not 100% guaranteed.

Project Budget:

Project costs will be determined by the initiatives chosen by the MENV team. All potential project costs will be covered by the Boulder Watershed Collective.

Professional Development:

Students will gain valuable management and leadership skills and experience implementing evidence-based stakeholder and community oriented research and ecological monitoring. The ability to evaluate both social and ecological dynamics from restoration work is highly valued from land management agencies and will support student’s passion for holistic natural resource management. Additionally, the ability to work with, and hear the perspectives of diverse and sometimes ideologically divergent stakeholders and community members is an essential skill for environmental professionals. This project is especially well suited for students interested in agency and community-driven engagement in watershed restoration, environmental social science research, and/or stream restoration monitoring. This project will also include opportunities for students to see first-hand how social and ecological dynamics impact local decision making, and the nuances of working with private and public land management agencies. This might include the opportunity to collaborate and network with representatives from the project stakeholders:

  • Boulder County’s Parks and Open Space

  • Other Front Range municipality water management agencies (e.g. City of Lafayette’s Parks and Open Space, Denver Water)

  • National beaver and wildlife experts

  • The Watershed Center & other local stream restoration collaborators

  • Private landowners adjacent to beaver sites/potential beaver sites

BWC believes that a strong partnership and robust learning environment exist when there are clear goals and objectives, regular communication, the opportunity to network with agency and community partners, and deliverables that truly impact ongoing work within the community. All BWC mentors and other partners will work to support students at every phase of the project to produce a product that supports the collective goal of improving stream restoration. The mentorship team will meet regularly with the students over the course of the project and will provide guidance on the diverse aspects of the work related to their expertise, as well as more personalized guidance based on the student’s diverse career interests. Additionally, students will have opportunities to present their innovative methods or findings at professional meetings, conferences, or webinars as desired by the student group.

Project Expectations + Risk Management:

  • Time required: As a Capstone Partner, we plan to meet with students on a regular basis, with weekly meetings likely occurring weekly or bi-weekly for 1-4 hours. We are also dedicated to providing the students timely feedback on their project deliverables, as well as other MENV Program required deliverables. 

  • Risks: We have learned through the years in our MENV collaborations to narrow the scope of the project and check in with students as the project scope is being developed. If changes to project scope occur, we will have timely and clear communication with the students about any changes, and ensure they have brainstormed and agreed to any changes with us. In the past, we have also set a deadline with the team when the scope of the project can no longer shift significantly. Students should also be aware this project includes general field work and wildland conditions, which may include lifting up to 30 pounds and being out in the field all day. Before these site visits, we will review a communication and safety plan with the students.

BWC Contact Information:

Partner lead name/title:
Erin Fried, Applied Social Scientist (erin@boulderwatershedcollective.org)

Partner back up name/title: 
Maya MacHamer, Co-founder and Director (maya@boulderwatershedcollective.org) 

Preston Brown, Watershed Specialist (preston@boulderwatershedcollective.org)