Day 13

The Wetlands Restoration

Day 13

            Today we were greeted by Jennifer on the Coeur d’Alene Natural Resources and her job title is Cultural Resources Manager. Her job has her manage the Coeur d’Alene Lake and help protect ancestral artifacts on the banks and beaches of the lake. Because of the nearby dams like Post Falls Dam, water levels can reach 8 feet higher when flooded. When this happens, artifacts or remains could potentially come to the surface. Jennifer’s job is to collect them and preserve them at the nearby cultural preserve. She also will help enforce tribal laws that violators may at the time be doing because law enforcement is scarce and needed for the forest and lake area.

            The second event we did was meeting with Natural Resources Program Manager. Angelo has been helping restore the area for some time and is now managing a plan to restore beaver dams in a nearby creek that leads into the Coeur d’Alene. He took us to a area that begins the forest restoration that was once owned by farmers that clear cut the area. This has damage the beaver population and habitat from growing so Angelo has been restoring creek beds with manmade dams with hay, branches, mud, and rock like a beaver would use. He has several groups that volunteer mainly youth groups from the local community that get involved and spend days building dams and observing the creek. As the beavers return to the area and begin to build separate dams and lounges, they create flooded areas and wetlands in the area. This allows the waters to flood and the vegetation to overgrow creating shade in the water and drastically cooled the water for fish and other aquatic. Birds have returned to the area along with packs of wolves that feed on beaver.

            The last thing we did with Angelo and the Natural Resources department was volunteering in making beaver dams.  Angelo took us to a beaver dam made by a youth group and showed us what was engineered. Poles were inserted into the ground to help debris build up and material to be placed to back flood the area. Hay, mud, rocks, and branches were placed in areas to support the structure and make sure water doesn’t push the dam apart. So with our example given to us, we spent an hour and a half building a dam. We moved material using an assembly line of people to areas of the dam that needed the repairs.. I Spent my time in areas digging mud and gravel to mix with hay to act as an adhesive. The time went by quick and we managed to make water flood back slowly. By the time everything was done, Angelo had graded our dam as “Beaver Approved.” The hard work we did in that short time is what a beaver does in a longer time frame. The beaver has my respect has a busy creature that provides sanctuaries for all animals of the area.