The cold water contrasted greatly from how the hot sun warmed my skin just moments before. As I plunged my arm further into the undercut bank the feeling receded further up my arm from my icy fingers. I was retracing a path that the cool stream had cut through this old and failing beaver dam analog.
Beaver dam analogs, or BDAs, are human-made structures designed to represent the work of a beaver. They mimic the way a beaver would build a dam. We used most of the same materials a beaver would use: willow, mud, and a couple of rocks. Unlike beavers, though, we also used some hemp fibers to pack holes in the dam.
The dam I was working on was a couple of years old and needed some repairs. As my arm traced the failing dam to the point that my cheek was a fraction of an inch of the water’s surface I knew I would never find this level of experiential learning in a traditional college classroom.
The readings and discussions presented in this course prepared me wonderfully for this “class period.” I knew exactly why I was almost swamping my boots in this frigid stream and what my actions were going to do for the surrounding ecosystem. These BDAs are used to raise the water table around a stream and allow water to soak back into the ground to be used by plants or seep back into the stream later at a cooler temperature. The increase in plants near the streambank protects the stream from erosion, provides habitat or food for wildlife and cattle, and encourages real beavers to move back in. The ground water recharge allows the water to cool off to around 55 degrees before it joins the river again. This supports trout and grayling’s oxygen needs, leading to a stronger fishery in Montana.
I could have learned these facts in a classroom but there is something about being in the muck and water yourself that truly makes you appreciate the process of learning and the work behind it. The moment I stuck my hand in the icy water of that BDA will always stay with me as a reminder of what experiential learning should be.