Projects

Big Hole River Temperature

Twenty years of Big Hole Watershed data show water temperatures climbing while overall flow stays flat, stressing the exact August window Arctic Grayling, ranchers, and irrigators all depend on.

Climate data from the Big Hole Watershed over the last twenty years has revealed that water temperatures are rising while overall water quantity has stayed relatively flat. Working with seasonal data plots, a 2013 water temperature study, and local rancher Erik Kalsta, I examined how earlier snowmelt and hotter summers are adding stress to the exact August window Arctic Grayling depend on most. My findings support how that kind of stress puts ranchers, irrigators, and fish habitat in direct competition for the same water.

Beaver Dam Analogues (BDAs)

Birch Creek was the warmest stream we sampled, so our team proposed four beaver dam analogues there to help slow the water down and send it back into the river colder later in the summer.

For this project, our team pitched a plan to build four beaver dam analogs on Birch Creek, a Big Hole River tributary that turned out to be the warmest stream we sampled and feeds into the river’s most drought-stressed sections. Beavers used to keep this kind of wetland habitat healthy before the fur trade and mining wiped most of them out, so the BDAs are meant to do the same job: slow the water down, let it soak into the ground, and send it back into the river colder later in the summer. We pitched it as a funding proposal from a conservation angle, showing how a low-cost pilot on Birch Creek could help ranchers, anglers, and Arctic Grayling downstream.

Aquifer Characterization

At the University of Michigan’s Wyoming field station, seismic refraction and resistivity surveys explained why one well outproduces its neighbors, pumping up to 150 gallons a minute: a gravel layer feeding a fractured bedrock aquifer, recharged by a nearby mountain stream.

I was part of a small field team at the University of Michigan’s research station in Wyoming, running seismic refraction and electrical resistivity tomography surveys to figure out why the camp’s well pumps up to 150 gallons per minute, far more than any well nearby. Combined with geomorphic surveying, the data pointed to a two-layer system: a gravel layer feeding fractured bedrock below, recharged by a nearby mountain stream. The results backed the camp’s case for its ongoing expansion project.

Golf Course Design Concept

An upcoming concept for an 18-hole course in a mountain valley, designed to cut water and chemical use through native turf and habitat corridors between fairways, while enhancing watershed properties.

Residential Before & After

An upcoming concept sketch for my own front and back yard, replacing invasive species with low-maintenance plantings and clearing overgrowth for a more open, accessible space.

Urban Park Concept

An upcoming concept sketch for a small park in a Michigan suburb, designed around shared green space and community gathering areas.