I Want Money To Build Beaver Dams in the Desert 

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Beavers are amazing but they can't create something out of nothing. They need an existing source of material to work with. And to eat. So yeah, be the beaver!

I’ve help build beaver dam analogs… on the Rio Guadalupe in New Mexico. Along with the Dept. of Game and Fish, we were trying to restore riparian habitat for the native Rio Grande cutthroat trout. We returned to the sites 6 weeks later to find that beavers had moved in… beavers weren’t thought to be within 75 miles of the area. The beavers also “remodeled” our work, which the biologists of NMDG&F now use in their analog design. Overall, the beaver dam analogs were a huge success. Good luck on your application!!

Having spent almost 50 years in the construction industry I used to tell my apprentices something an older carpenter once told me: "I don't want carpenters working for me who don't make mistakes. I want carpenters working for me who know how to fix mistakes. Because everyday when we go to work we will make a mistake(s) and mess something up. Don't hide it, don't bury it, just fix it." That is where the real progress comes in life...fixing our mistakes. I love your story. I feel like I am learning a lot. And, I love watching you grow. Good Luck! Progress is when we keep putting one foot in front of the other, over and over and over and over again.

This youtube channel is going to keep me in suspense for decades !!!!!

Your attitude towards mechanical problems has improved immensely over this series. You used to shut down when faced with a breakdown. But now you gave problems with a plan and persistence. I'd say the moment you improved was when you dropped the fuel tank off your truck. You began to give up but then you decided to take action. This dozer breakdown shows exactly how far you have come.

A funny thing about beavers, If they exist in the area they can be tricked into building dams with a simple portable radio that has the sound of running water playing continuously on a loop. The beavers will actually build a dam on top of the radio. The sound of running water triggers a beaver into thinking they're in danger and need to flood the area to create a safe habitat. Obviously, the landscape in this video has nothing for a beaver to work with.

My husband the mechanic had a policy. If one hose blows, they are ALL getting close. Just replace ALL of them rather than constantly have the same essential breakdown time after time. Sounds extreme, but really works well.

I really appreciated the aerial map, where you plotted out what you intend to do. In many of the videos it's hard to visualize what you are doing. I know it makes perfect sense on the ground, but on a video it' very easily just becomes an unintelligible pile of rocks. So more of this please, and thanks for the content. I'm following your progress from Denmark by the way

Working on old machines is rough, but each lesson you learn the hard way makes it a heck of a lot easier in the future.

You should have some replacement hoses on hand. Even if they are too long, they will still work (with some zip ties) and allow you to run the machine. Then the next time you come out you bring an actual replacement hose and remove the temporary hose.

In Canada in summer I watched a beaver dig a canal to it's dam. It worked for hours and hours pushing mud from the canal bottom onto the entire length. The beaver families lake was easily 100 acre's. No exaggerating the dam was 50 yards wide and the uppermost dam was probably 6 to 8 feet tall. They also had three dams below the main main one. Truly amazing animals

Beaver Dam Analogs... Time... Trees and shrubs in the riparian zones... Then Real Beavers... Real recovery... The original slow, spread and soak engineering. LOVE IT.

Maybe a "Be The Beaver" tee shirt?

Shaun, I grew up in west Texas and unless one has been there, it is hard to imagine the bone dryness and extreme heat and cold. It has been frustrating to watch your videos and see so many things go wrong. I can just imagine how you might want to give up! Don't give up.....We are all watching and rooting for you!

the reason beaver dams are curved down stream, is to increase the area where water can over top. by spreading out this area, it reduces the power of water by spreading it's energy over a wider area provided by the curving structure

Be the Beaver and the beaver will come on their own. The Beaver is a Keystone species just like the Wolf. When they reintroduced Wolf packs to Yellowstone they changed the course of rivers and new trees were allowed to grow with out being over grazed.

I think you did the right thing from the start. You have rocks...use rocks. If check dams create habitat that can grow aspens, other trees that beavers like, then build BDAs from fiber that grows on your land. Make a ton of little check dams, even more than you already have. When you have a few thousand high up where the water flow is low, you may never have those blow-outs. Someday the beavers may show up, once there's something for them to use.

Don’t forget to always set your torque wrench’s back to zero when finished which will take all the pressure off the spring in the wrench.

Geoengineering is real. One man can do this.

I would love to see West Texas transformed into a garden. So much wasteland out there. However, I am skeptical so I'm watching intently 😊

Beaver-style FTW! Between this and working to establish mycelium networks you seem to be on the right track. A couple of ideas/questions: 1. Would it be possible to drill a number of boreholes down say, 30-50 feet a few inches in diameter in the path of where the water would normally flow during the rainy season and block off around the first 4-5 feet of the edges with say, PVC and cover with screen material? I would think that this might assist in allowing the ground to recapture some of the water in localized areas which could then be absorbed by some of the more deeply rooted plants but avoid the evaporation 2. Since one of the big issues is getting a large amount of organic matter to start improving the soil, something to potentially take advantage of would be some of the fires that have been happening lately more north. When we had the fires in Bastrop near Austin, after they were out there was a lot of business in clearing land and removing burned timber from properties for things like new builds/etc. Some people started entire firewood businesses out of it. However, all of that burned wood makes for a great base for something like terra preta. People pay to have that kind of thing removed, which covers the gas cost to get it delivered to the ranch. If you had a tall long trailer w/ metal sides, you could have people clear brush/logs for a base fee (or do it solo), then haul it out and use it as a basis of an area en-masse. Afterwards, it could be buried and when the water comes, it would allow it to start to rot and the microorganisms can get to work. As it stands it kind of seems like it's going to take a really, really long time to build up enough organic matter to make a significant difference on such a large property, but by doing something like the above, you could potentially both turn a profit from the brush clearing, fund the gas to get it moved, help people in the process and also save on the cost of having to truck in existing soil by building your own more quickly. Burying the logs would be relatively easy with the dozer and would get them out of the sun, and looking at even home projects for permaculture this kind of technique seems to provide pretty good yields as the matter breaks down for around ~2 years. If combined with something like swales, e.g. burying a large number of logs in an area, covering with dirt, then building a swale to capture future rainwater, I would think in theory that would then allow the water to seep down into the wood, allot it to begin the decomposition process and you'd have a massive amount of good soil on the cheap to allow for more efficient branching out of arable land. If you used some long 2x6's, 4x4 posts, L brackets and a bit of concrete you may also be able to fashion some rudimentary pergolas to help provide shade in place of trees and help reduce the soil temperature and thus reduce evaporation in set areas. This may mimic the effect of using vertical solar panels in other projects to provide shade and cooling for growth. Sorry for the text block but hopefully it provides some ideas if they weren't already considered. I've loved following this project & seeing it develop :D I have aspirations to do something similar in the future when it becomes fiscally viable. I'm honestly half tempted to move out there somewhere and help for the exercise xD

The very last thing you said in the video was the most important; you changed the other hoses that looked suspicious as well. In the military we have a saying; "the easiest problem to fix is the one you prevent" which is followed by the '7 P's (Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pi$$ Poor Performance). Short version; just change them all and get it done and over with. You have the same problem we do (other than being shot at!); being in the field a long way from the serious maintenance facility. So anything you can do to prevent problems by doing maintenance that forestalls a failure is a mission success. You are doing great considering you are a one-man army. Keep it up and keep moving forward because the only easy day was yesterday!

With me owning a chunk of land down close to you when someone says release beavers I guess they pretty much just want to kill them. Beavers don't live in the desert🤦‍♂️ I also on a construction company and have for 33 years, that dozer you purchased is slap worn out. The H series JD dozers were the first of the series they were the first fully hydraulic dozer, it's just a computer running a pump that turns the final drives. And if you want headaches you start having to replace that stuff at a cost of about $20,000 Everyone in the construction world stays away from the H series just due to the cost of ownership If you would've went back one model to the G series you would have a true gem on your hands, it was The last of the truly mechanical dozers you could put a new final drive in it for about $6000 in a weekend even with your basic mechanical skills it's simple Believe me before too long you're gonna get rid of that 450H after it lets you down too many times. Just watching it drive-by in the videos you can tell it is severely worn out on the bottom end having it in rough terrain and rocks makes it even worse. Owning an H series JD it's about like owning a private jet. You can afford to purchase one, but you just can't afford to own it🤣💦.

It helps if the expert explains WHY something won’t be done, and not just “no way”. Education is what this is about, thank you.

Sean, get a solar powered electric fence to keep cattle out of your sensitive areas. They're cheaper than installing barb wire.

I told ya so! I mentioned beaver dam analogs way back in one of the first videos. That got a ton of comments, too, which I thought was very unusual. The BDA's work just like the Leaky Weirs you went on to build. The problem is that you've just not installed enough of them. That Gabion you made was a good start, but you stopped when you should have continued. I wouldn't want to see you building anything that requires you to bring in materials like posts. With all the rock you have, buying wooden posts that you'd have to drive in the ground is just silly. You've got rock, so use it. While we say "be the beaver", we need to remember that beavers would happily use dynamite if they could! They use wood and mud because that's what they can handle. You've got rocks and dirt, with a smattering of shrubbery, so use that. Don't drive up the costs by purchasing stuff in town. Of course, I say that, but you should do whatever the grant tells you to do. If there's going to be tax-money spent, this is a good cause for it. Just remember to start at the highest point and work your way down. It might not seem like you're stopping much water with those first few you make at the highest elevations, but they are critical to slowing the water before it can build up speed and power. Let the water get too much of a run built up and it'll be able to possibly blow out the first few BDA's that it hits. This is basically what you saw happening with the Gabion. That one structure never stood a chance against all the water that was coming down the channel. Miles and miles of gravity working and the flood waters running unimpeded meant that the Gabion was in big trouble right from the outset. That's why any channel needs many BDA's or other structures. The first few might fall under the onslaught, but they still strip energy from the water and make it easier for the next structures to stand firm against the flow. Beavers will not be able to survive in that area for at least another century. But we can learn from them, and mimic them. We can Be The Beaver.

It's great to see your 'progress' and struggles. It means you're accomplishing things. Looking forward to more videos

Yesterday I had never heard of you. Today I couldn't pull myself aways. I watched at least 6 hours of your videos. Fascinating. I love your overall optimistic attitude. I love the volunteers. Your plan to rejuvenate the land is great.

I really admire you for chasing your dream. your story reminds me of an animated short film I saw as a child of a man in France who day after day would soak acorns in water and hike the barren hills around his home and plant thousands of acorns one by one. This led to the entire area being reforested and the watershed to be restored. This was something that really stuck with me and was something I always wanted to do myself but never did anything about it. Props to you for going out there and doing something!

Biochar? Carbon capture money is big right now. I love what you're doing out there! I'm currently working on a slip form pouring process to build aircrete dome homes and am trying to raise money to buy land and start a permacultre community! Got side lined with cancer but I'm slowly getting back on track.

Keep it up man. Nature takes decades to change what you’re trying to changes in a couple of years. I believe in your mission.

Really wonderful to see Samuel's animations in the video! It's so good that you're encouraging his interests!

Yeah!! Another awesome video from Shaun. I just love your journey to green-up your Texas land!

you should develop a routine of checking over your machinery. A lot of problems can be prevented by just simply giving a look at things like hoses also checking for vet spots under the machinery from engine and gearbox and wiring loom locations, things can get loose and start rubbing. Also rubber when it gets old it starts to crack so just give hoses a slight bend and look at the surface, if tears appear on rubber it's getting near the end of service life.

Appreciate how you share the realities without inflating, or overly dramatizing your experiences. You are a practical person which is very refreshing to watch and see. Keep the videos coming and sending you all the best as you continue to work towards your goals and passion.

Have you tried 'Madre de Cacao'? I don't know what it's called in English, but like Moringa, it can also grow through cuttings, so you can probably plant one in your house, then cut it every 3-4 months or so, then plant the cuttings in the desert forest, that way, even if it does, it still becomes biomass.

I have always told my wife that someone needs to dam water in the dry areas, dessert regions to bring life, help wildlife and --- I will want to come look some day. I would donate but do not have resources but will keep it in mind for future if possible.

Your attempts to fix the hydraulics is so reminiscent of every mechanical problem I try to solve, except that you are doing it in the desert with a damn bulldozer instead of in a temperate backyard with a little lawnmower. Much respect for hanging in there.

Shaun, I’ve gotta say, as you describe yourself as someone who keeps messing up, you deserve all the credit for getting up again every time you fail. You are certainly not afraid to try something new. Whether that is by choice or necessity, it is still commendable and a great example to others afraid to try new things. It’s encouraging to see you succeed after so many setbacks. You are doing great things.

This channel is fascinating. I'm really enjoying it a lot, and thanks for taking the time to share all the efforts, the ups and the downs with us.

Look into a solar water pump. They put out a very small stream of water but they work very well for filling a cistern tank that you can draw from. They typically have a float switch that will turn them off once the cistern is full. We use them on remote areas of our ranch that use to have windmills to fill the cistern to have water for them cattle in those areas. Much more reliable and cost effective than a windmill.

In order to build a forest in the desert, you must first become a diesel mechanic.

Watching that hydraulic repair reminds me of Andrew Camarata's channel. He has a fleet of sad construction equipment and does all his own maintenance on them when (not if) they break down. Some of his camera work, drone shots, and edits are incredible too. Imagine a drone shot of Shaun on his Cat out in the desert, rising until the dozer is just a tiny spec in an endless waste!

4:10 speaking up for the beavers! Dream big!!

An actual beaver needs building material, meaning you have soil and plants growing in that soil, to slow water flow. You're basically working with the rock layer of the Earth. Your only goal should be slowing water flow to build soil for the plants first. I haven't finished the video, but I'm assuming your rock dams will be determined to be not only the most cost effective, but also the more effective way. I still hope you get the grant money so we can have the side by side comparison of both methods to observe over time. 🤞🏻🤞🏻

I'm so happy to have come across your channel. I get easily frustrated when I'm trying something new or that I don't do regularly and I get upset or ticked off, and want to give up if it doesn't go as I expected. However, at some point, I'll either come back to it later and try again, and if it still isn't working I'll reach out to others to see who knows how to fix this thing or that thing. Yet your video shows me to keep trying. I lack confidence in my abilities to do things outside of my comfort level, and yet here you are doing things you don't have any or much knowledge in and you keep trying. Thank you!! You've really encouraged me to not give up so quickly. Very much appreciated!! 😁👍🤩

love this project, keep going!

I love how you tell your story. It's so lifelike, so intense! Great job! ❤

I'm from Maine and have been relocating nuisance beaver my whole live and would love to see this work as I also would reconstruct some beaver dams in order to preserve my favorite fishing spots.

Love your perserverance. Mechanics is maddening enough, so I am glad you have the pressure washer. Better when you can see it, and goop means leakage.! Thanks for taking us along!!

I'm a mechanic that works on heavy equipment like that dozer. When you habe to work on anything liks that again, just take the time and remove tue thing that's in your way pr slowing you down, it ends up being faster to take it further apart and put it back together than fight around that 1 fitting/bolt/connector.

You should take some of those old hoses and cut some pieces off to use on the radiatior grill slats. Cut a slit lenghtwise and zip tie them to the metal bars where the new hoses will contact. They'll protect the new hoses from rubbing on sharp edges.

Learning the hard way. Its always a pain when you're trying to do stuff on site, but it activates a part of your brain that most people ignore. Enjoy the dopamine rush when it works out

Love your work. I have a similar project at a much smaller scale. It warms my heart when there is a gully gusher of a rainstorm and all the other washes are done flowing by the time water appears in my wash.

Glad to see you making progress with the bda's. Love all your content!

I love when people start projects fully knowing they're going to take years or decades

Very interesting as always Shaun. I am always looking forward to watching your videos. It gets me so happy when I see a notification from you. I wish you a success in this huge project and hope to visit one day this place and see personally how everything turned out into a desert forest. Sending warm greetings from a Ukrainian in Dubai! And meanwhile going to check a video about desert beavers...

I hope you get that grant- BDAs on your property would be a game changer!!!!

So cool that you could be allowed to build beaver dam analogs on your property! And I very much appreciate the video parts of you learning to service the old dozer.

I am impressed with the progress you are making, but even more the skills you are developing. Love the videos.

Amazing work, love to watch the progress from the UK.

Just what do these beaver lovers think the beavers are going to eat?

Im glad you pointed out at the end that the "shortcuts" you tried to take to save you time actually didn't. You were trying to save driving time, and ended up taking a day or two anyways to fix it. Live and learn.

Imo, there is nothing better than a hole in the ground. I have done rock dams and log dams. They look good and make for great video clips when flowing. An hour later and there is no standing water so you have to question the effectiveness. Dig a hole and it holds water to soak in later. I started harvesting soil before these dams to create these holding pools. It just makes sense. I will say that these structures start raising the soil level and reversing erosion. It that case, they are excellent.

I’m so glad you’re sharing this l with us! I appreciate what you’re doing!

I can’t wait to see the success y’all are gonna have with this project!

They should do this moreso on the fringes of deserts and the ultimate goal should be to reintroduce beavers as they will outlast your project and are a permanent instead of a few decades solution

Shaun, I just discovered this channel yesterday. I worked in I.T. most of my life, but I've done a lot of other things too. If I had the money, I know I would be doing something challenging like you are; as it is, I've done enough projects to know that what we envision and even draw up on paper is always more challenging than we think when taking to the physical world. The real, physical world is always the ultimate challenge. I can relate to the frustration you had working on the dozer. One thing leads to another. Take it slow and small. Nail it, then scale it. Good luck. New subscriber here.

Hey man. This is really fascinating. Please, don’t ever give up! This is already a very inspiring story. Good luck to you.

I watched a video where they did a experiment, dumping truck loads of orange 🍊 peels from a factory that made orange juice. Goal was add organic matter to barren soil. Years later it turned into a lush forest.

I appreciate you, Shaun. I appreciate the videos, your humility, your goals, your process of learning, the community you are building in the real world and online, and the huge investment of time and effort you've put into the land and the channel.

I'm glad to see you are still making good progress! I'm living vicariously through you until I can get out of the suburbs and get my own land to restore

Watching you trouble shoot that dozer was great. I have totally done similar things where I'm a little out of my depth but work it out anyway. Such a good feeling!!

Thank you for sharing. A beginning with purpose always provides results ✨️

OMG YESSS!!!! BDAs!!! Now you are really headed in the right direction. And hooray for grants.

It's such an incredible journey, you're taking us with you... Thanky soooo much!!!!

My brother is a higher up in the NRCS, he would love what you are doing. We grew up on a farm, and know firsthand how important it is to be good stewards of the land. Can't wait to see the results. Best of luck.

hope you get the grant, thank you for sharing. Love the progress!

Thanks for sharing this journey, yours is one of the few channels I find myself wanting more content from, I usually start thinking about your video at least a week before it comes out. Heavy equipment repair is a craft, congrats on manning up and tackling it head on. Five years ago would anyone have been able to convince you that someday you’d be excited about hand tools?

Careful with the pressure washer around hoses. Yours truly was trying to clean up underside of truck, ruined a power steering line that was very difficult to replace. Hats off to you Shaun and all those that volunteer!

Angle head open end wrenches are made for hydraulic hose repairs. The best ones are 30 and 60 degree heads on each wrench.

The thing about beaver dam that I'd love NRCS to address is once the beavers grow up beaver highwyas so they can actually spread out properly. (IE dry creeks that reshape thelandscape but maybe aren't always filled all year long) Sometimes they got these beavers and the reason why they don't spread is because it's an island. Doing things like setting up highways with native food plants & willows and so forth means you get a population that actually spreads out. you also might want to setup a willow nursery so you can plant your way out of your only having rocks. if you pair your check damns with a willow nursey you will get further and have both options over time. Plus, if you get a bunch of different types of native willow to your area you will be able to sell that as a source of income plus, willow is really easy to propgate. (even if you never get a beaver you might get an offer to rehome some and having the footprint is helpful) Second part about setting up a micro native nursey for food plants all of them get to be sold. it's to bad you don't live in Cali because air wells are under used and actually work really well there. I'm not sure if you have fog out there but using a blatter style water storage. (I'm not sure the real name sorry) but after the last war, they had a lot of these on the market, still not sure if they are. But they used them to storage water in the desert. They hold a shocking amount and if you spread it out with an air well you can storage water in zones across your land.

Keep it up, nice to focus on solutions. Would love to see how your various plants are doing. You inspired me to transplant a bunch of Prickly Pear plants, slow and steady.

You're doing great!

Enjoying your adventure. Beaver dams in rocky areas in Kansas and rocky areas of the surrounding states are constructed using rocks. Its amazing what these rode ts can accomplish.

So many challenges, it’s nice to see another good video. Stay positive!

Hope you get the NRCS approval to work on your property. It will be interesting to see what is approved and what the cost share will be. The grant I received from the USDA for working in my woodlot and the almost $30K I received helped with the expense of owning real estate. I worked on a bit over 43 acres and enjoyed felling trees to improve the forest stand and left the course woody material for wildlife to slowly rot.

If your water table is only 30' below surface, you might be able to drive a sandpoint well yourself on your own land. It'll never be high-flow, but if you bought a tank (or ibc totes) you could use a solar-powered pump to slowly fill it while you're not onsite.

Problem solving and patience , such a good combination ! May you succeed

Just found your channel now. I want to see the whole story, not just plants and water. The journey is as important as the destination!

My experience with hydraulic hoses on both stationary and mobile equipment is that unless something cut the hose, when one goes, they all need replaced otherwise you will be down repeatedly with leaks and blow hoses. Measure the longest hose you have and have one made to use as a universal spare. You can usually loop it and tie it out of the way as a temporary hose and not loose hours or a whole day dealing with getting a new one made right then. They really like to give out on long holiday weekends when everyone is off.

Shaun you learning so much and we love the journey

love the overview of where which dams are and planed to be

This is my favorite channel - I'm not exactly sure why but I think its the passion and genuineness

Have you considered having several truck loads of logs delivered? I've been thinking of doing my own rejuvenation project and this is one of the key point to my strategy. Logs would allow you to make quick dams, mulch them for water retention and soil amendment, homes for bugs, birds, and animals. A trailer load of logs would cost a few thousand dollars plus transportation costs. From a bang for your buck perspective, it could be a good investment and extremely versatile material

This has been a fun channel. Drive close by you twice a week…and I check the weather. Good stuff!

I love that you added dates that things happened, its sometimes a bit confusing for us to figure out when diffrent thigns happened in some of your other videos.

Thank u, you're going to be such a great example of how to regreen!!!

HI Shuan, I live in South Africa and have a similar property with similar goals as you. Also similar problems! I can identify with hydralic houses bursting etc. I have an excavator and what i find very useful for me when digging swales is a machine mounted laser reciever that picks up the laser level and help me keep my grade without getting out of the machine to measure the levels. You get basic ones that aren't too expensive.