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In a remote area along the Idaho-Nevada border called the Bruneau Desert, streams were in a degraded condition due to centuries of human and natural disturbance. That was the case until 2021 when a group of partners stepped in to restore the area. This area is home to important sagebrush sagebrush
The western United States� sagebrush country encompasses over 175 million acres of public and private lands. The sagebrush landscape provides many benefits to our rural economies and communities, and it serves as crucial habitat for a diversity of wildlife, including the iconic greater sage-grouse and over 350 other species.
Learn more about sagebrush steppe species such as sage-grouse, redband trout, and Columbia spotted frogs. It is also a working landscape important for cattle grazing. Several creeks � Cottonwood, Pole, and Alder Creeks � in the area that have been restored through a National Fish & Wildlife Foundation Grant leveraged by state and federal agency funding, together forming the project’s moniker, “Polderwood Restoration Project.�
Growing Collaboration
The project came about due to strong local partnerships. A motivated group of biologists and landowners developed a plan to mimic natural processes to restore the health and functionality of the stream system by slowly reconnecting the stream with the adjacent floodplain. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, along with project partners from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Idaho Department of Lands, Bureau of Land Management, the Idaho Governor’s Office of Species Conservation, and J.R. Simplot Land and Livestock Company, installed approximately 150 to 200 instream structures. They stabilize the stream channel, promote the establishment of native shrubs, increase water depth, and increase the longevity of water within the system to benefit wildlife, and livestock operations.
Leave it to the Beavers
Additionally, within the upper reach of Cottonwood Creek, project partners installed seven human-made beaver dams that mimic those made by beavers. Located at ideal habitat sites, human created dams can attract beavers to the area. Beavers did not exist in the immediate project area in 2021, but their historical presence was evident. Since the project implementation in 2022, staff have conducted maintenance of the original instream structures, annual monitoring, and translocation of beavers into the site.
Beavers, North America’s original dam builders, were once nearly extirpated from the West because of trapping, disease, and human-wildlife conflicts. These natural engineers are part of the solution in restoring degraded stream systems in Idaho’s arid rangelands. In the mid-20th century, beavers were relocated into the Frank Church River of no Return Wilderness by being dropped out of planes in boxes with parachutes attached. Today, they are helping the streams in the Bruneau Desert recover. Their dams allow water to flow through, while their structures hold just enough water back to prevent erosion, hydrating the adjacent floodplain, creating wetlands, and keeping stream temperatures cooler to provide better habitat for fish and wildlife.
Eight beavers have been translocated to new sites on Cottonwood Creek to date. Most recently, IDFG biologist Chris Yarbrough and Service biologist Josh White transported a large male and a small female to Cottonwood Creek in May 2025. It was a 1.5-mile hike with beavers on their backs after a long ride in a vehicle. The beavers are carried in something that looked like a dog kennel backpack. Though docile during transportation, the beavers quickly departed into Cottonwood Creek once released according to the biologists.
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian area with a beaver on his back. Josh White/USFWS
Strategic Planning
Project partners agree that while beavers have a primary role in stream restoration, they aren’t a tool to be used everywhere. “We don’t want to put beavers everywhere, and a lot of careful thought and consideration goes into the decision-making process prior to ever translocating a beaver into a new area,� White explained. “We do not want to put beavers into a situation where they have a potential to cause a new conflict that did not previously exist.� Idaho Department of Fish and Game works with trappers to remove nuisance beavers that are causing conflicts with irrigations systems or in the urban environment. They care for these beavers at a temporary holding site until an appropriate relocation site can be found.
In the face of environmental challenges, projects like the Polderwood restoration can help create more resilient landscapes and habitats in the future. This low-cost, low-impact form of conservation delivery in the Bruneau Desert brought many partners together from private landowners to public land managers � and together, they are working collaboratively with the land and a keystone wildlife species to restore the streams.
Something temporarily or permanently constructed, built, or placed; and constructed of natural or manufactured parts including, but not limited to, a building, shed, cabin, porch, bridge, walkway, stair steps, sign, landing, platform, dock, rack, fence, telecommunication device, antennae, fish cleaning table, satellite dish/mount, or well head.
Learn more about structure simulates a beaver dam. Josh White/USFWS
