An idea borrowed from nature is helping people to rehabilitate some mountain landscapes devastated by wildfire. 

Crews installed a series of small, wooden dams in the foothills west of Fort Collins to repair wetlands following the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome wildfires.  They’re essentially manmade beaver dams, built from logs and lumber to raise the water level and slow the flow of water in places. 

A team of researchers with the U.S. Forest Service and Colorado State University wanted to know how effective the dams have been at restoring mountain ecosystems. What they found so far is encouraging. 
 
Tim Fegel is one of the researchers studying the effects of the dams. He spoke with In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole about how the areas are healing themselves in ways that wouldn’t happen without the manmade structures. 

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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer and Editor: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.