Beaver Creek Site
Beaver Creek is located in Rocky Mountain National Park. Once lush with tall willows and teeming with biodiversity, the stream is now misshapen by erosion, the willows are overbrowsed, and invasive plant species are overgrown. KVRC’s low-tech, process-based approach to restoring this 30-acre site will have several benefits, including:
Raising the streambed and water table
Restoring the site’s tall willow populations
Enhancing wildlife habitat
Improving water quality
Supporting the site’s resilience to climate change and fire
Increasing biodiversity
Supporting Biodiversity at Beaver Creek
The Kawuneeche Valley provides habitat for hundreds of species. In recent decades, it’s struggled to support many of them because of its shrinking wetlands. Restoring sites like Beaver Creek will restore habitat for wildlife, including:
30 different species of birds, including migratory birds and waterfowl
Amphibians, like the boreal toad and western chorus frog
Mammals, including river otter and beaver
Beaver Creek Project Timeline
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KVRC chose to begin restoration efforts at the Beaver Creek site because it was the most accessible and had the most relict beaver dams among all the proposed locations. Following years of careful monitoring and planning, KVRC developed the most low-tech, nature-based restoration approach possible for this 30-acre project site.
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Before beginning construction on the site, KVRC monitored Beaver Creek for several years. We collected data about the site's water quality, water levels, wildlife, and willow populations. This monitoring helped us develop an impactful restoration approach for the site and will be used later to track success.
While official monitoring and planning began in 2020, Colorado State University has monitored the site for decades.
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Work on the Beaver Creek project site began in 2023. This included designs for restoration work in the project site and tackling invasive weeds that impact the site’s ecosystem.
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Construction on the Beaver Creek site began in September 2024. This construction included installing instream structures and exclosure fencing. Keep scrolling to learn more about those processes.
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We anticipate construction and willow planting at the site being complete in 2025.
Restoration takes time, but its worth it. While we don't know exactly how long it will take for Beaver Creek site to return back to its healthy natural state, we anticipate it taking decades. Between now and then, we will continue monitoring the site to ensure our restoration techniques are working.
Instream Structures
Site design calls for 29 instream structures to be installed to raise the streambed and water table, accumulate water and sediment, and help restore the site’s natural systems. These structures include:
Beaver Creek Restoration Methods
Three Simulated Beaver Structures (SBS)
These are the most technical structures used in KVRC’s restoration process. The stream has become so deeply eroded that it needs extra support to slow down the water flow and capture materials that are essential for a healthy wetland. Working like fully formed beaver dams, SBSs slow water movement, create pools behind them, and add complexity to the stream, which helps boost biodiversity in the wetland and reestablishes a healthy streambed and floodplain.
Above: example of a simulated beaver structure
Seven Beaver Dam Analogs (BDA)
BDAs function similarly to SBSs but are built with more natural material and aren’t designed to last as long. Like beaver dams, BDAs slow down the water while still allowing it to flow downstream. This helps form new stream banks, raises the groundwater table and stream level, and reconnects the floodplain to the stream channel.
Above: example of a beaver dam analog
Nineteen Post-Assisted Log Structures (PALS)
PALSs are the simplest form of instream structure that KVRC will use for restoration. Wooden posts are placed in the stream to mimic the natural wood deposits that build up in a healthy stream. While they do slow down water movement and trap some sediment, their main purpose is to support the stream’s transition back to its original functions rather than fully restore it, as the SBSs and BDAs do.
Above: example of a post-assisted log structure
Exclosure Fencing and Willow Planting
The tall willow population at the Beaver Creek site was diminished by years of overbrowsing by elk and moose. The willows are critical to the ecosystem in the Kawuneeche Valley because they provide the materials necessary for beaver dams and a healthy stream. To restore the site, we must bring back the willows that once thrived throughout the Valley.
KVRC will install 31 acres of exclosure fencing to keep elk and moose from browsing, giving the willows the time they need to grow. It will take decades for the willows to grow to a healthy height. For reference, we’ve seen willows in other parts of Rocky Mountain National Park grow a little over three feet in 15 years.
In addition to building exclosure fencing, KVRC’s restoration plans at the Beaver Creek site call for willow planting to ensure the site achieves a healthy tall willow population. We plan to begin planting willows in 2025.
Invasive Species Treatment
The Beaver Creek site’s eroded streambed and diminished willows left room for invasive plant species to flourish, namely the Canada Thistle. This plant species was introduced from Europe and spread across Canada and the United States.
Manually controlling this species is very difficult because each time one is pulled up, any piece of root left in the ground can grow a new individual plant. To ensure there’s room for willows to grow and remain healthy at the Beaver Creek site, KVRC will conduct a multi-year treatment process to remove invasive species in the area.
Don’t Miss an Update
Our project team is hard at work to ensure the Valley and its wildlife return to the conditions that nature intended. As our work continues, there will be opportunities for you to join our team on field tours, site visits, and more!
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