Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
In the Jemez Mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Rio Grande Return restoration crew picked up the work that nature’s best engineers usually handle. When beavers aren’t around to build dams, people can step in by creating beaver dam analogues (BDAs). These simple, hand-built structures mimic the way natural beaver dams slow water, re-wet meadows, and create thriving habitats for fish, birds, and wildlife.
Watch as this team constructs a BDA in timelapse—from pounding posts to weaving branches—and see how this small but mighty project helps restore wetlands, recharge groundwater, and bring life back to the Rio Grande’s headwater streams.
In the Jemez Mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Rio Grande Return restoration crew picked up the work that nature’s best engineers usually handle. When beavers aren’t around to build dams, people can step in by creating beaver dam analogues (BDAs). These simple, hand-built structures mimic the way natural beaver dams slow water, re-wet meadows, and create thriving habitats for fish, birds, and wildlife.
Watch as this team constructs a BDA in timelapse—from pounding posts to weaving branches—and see how this small but mighty project helps restore wetlands, recharge groundwater, and bring life back to the Rio Grande’s headwater streams.
