
After nine hitches of trail work, crew 4 is learning a new skill! This time, we joined up with Madeline's crew to learn how to build BDAs. So we donned our rubber boots and waders and put our beaver brains on.
It was neat to do work for the landscape rather than on trails that people use- though the effects may not be as noticeable to the visitors of the national forest, the wildlife and plants will be endlessly grateful for our work.
We enjoyed working together to place ponderosa saplings, stomp mud on top, place more branches, more mud, ad nauseam (because our quads were sore from stomping). Then we would pound posts with manual and gas-powered post pounders, then it would be willow branch wicker-woven, and then Annika would come through to level off the posts with a chainsaw. The process became familiar and like clockwork for the group, and we got to enjoy it and find satisfaction in watching the water slowly pool up behind the dam.