Beaver Dam Analogs Improve the Environment

Item #: 20260056

CONTACTS

Implementing Organization: Environmental Division
Implementation Lead: Rod Hess
Development Team: Rod Hess, Matt Howard, Larry Montoya (Region 3 Project Manager), Dale Ashcraft (Region 3 Surveyor)

Article Written By: Adapted from UDOT Communications Newsletter Article
Innovation Team Coordinator: Quinten Klingonsmith

STATUS

Implementation Date: October 1, 2020
Adoption Status: Fully Implemented
Adoptability Note: What other natural process could we encourage?

APPLIES TO

Topic: Safety and Health
Organization(s): Central Construction, Central Maintenance / Facilities Management, Central Preconstruction, Environmental Division, Planning, Policy / Legal, Region 1, Region 2, Region 3, Region 4, Right of Way, Transit and Trails
Job Role(s): Construction Engineer, Information Specialist, Program Director, Program Manager, Program Specialist, Roadway Operations / IMT, ROW / Permits
Tags: highway transportation, infrastructure preservation, job satisfaction, rural development, biology, civil engineering, construction, design, planning, beaver, dam, analog, groundwater, vegetation, impact, DNR, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, U.S. Forest Service, aesthetics, environmental quality > pollution > air, noise, public opinion, quality of life, wetlands

PROBLEM

UDOT is obligated to mitigate the environmental impacts of its projects. Wetlands near Strawberry Reservoir needed to be replaced.

CHANGE

UDOT’s Environmental Division teamed up with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the U.S. Forest Service to install Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs). BDAs are man-made structures designed to mimic what beavers have done for millions of years.

RESULT

The BDAs slowed the creek so sediments would collect in the ponds. As soil builds up behind the dams, the water table rises—leading to cleaner water flowing into Strawberry Reservoir, healthier vegetation along the stream, and thriving wetland habitat. Beavers have since moved in and built natural dams of their own, turning this into a long-term, sustainable success story.

Installing BDAs along the Strawberry River to improve stream habitat not only satisfied UDOT’s Army Corps mitigation requirements, it met both DWR and USFS Strawberry River restoration plan. This cooperative approach reduced project costs because UDOT did not need to acquire a separate mitigation parcel as typical.

LINKS

Instagram Post (with video)
UDOT Newsletter Article, Sep 2025 (doc)

Screenshot from Original Instagram Post

YEAR 0: BDA #4 in 2020 (after Construction)

YEAR 1: BDA #4 in 2021 (1st Year)

YEAR 2: BDA #4 in 2022 (2nd year)

YEAR 3: BDA #4 in 2023 (3rd year)

YEAR 4: BDA #4 in 2024 (4th year)

YEAR 5: BDA #4 in 2025 (5th year)

Beaver Dam Analog (BDA)

BDA Closeup

Real Beaver Dam, Beavers Moved In

IMPACT

BETTER MOBILITY

N/A

GOOD HEALTH

Improves water table and quality of water entering Strawberry Reservoir
Helps reduce environmental impact of transportation projects

CONNECTED COMMUNITIES

N/A

STRONG ECONOMY

Watershed improvements enhance one of our most important resources, water
Reduced project costs by avoiding purchase of a mitigation parcel

EFFICIENCIES

Estimated Cost Savings (FY 2020): $70,000
Benefit/Cost Ratio: 1.4:1

*Cost and labor avoidance are the average benefits, net of initial and ongoing expenses, projected over the expected life of the innovation. See details.