Measuring the Eco-Hydrological Performance of the Lower Bear River Basin through Experiential Learning – The Bear River Fellows Program

Measuring and evaluating the performance of river systems necessarily requires understanding the variety of environmental and ecological variables driving the decision-making process in managing river basins. Such variables are best understood with field measurements, data analysis and computational modeling. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Utah State University (USU), through a National Science Foundation project, has partnered with the Outdoor Recreation, and Parks and Recreation programs at USU to offer the Bear River Fellows Program - a new, unique river-based experiential learning opportunity for 5 freshmen Fellows to receive first-hand experience in collecting, synthesizing and analyzing environmental and ecological metrics. The Fellows collected field measurements and examined environmental and ecological variables from three different sites along the Lower Bear River between the Idaho-Utah state line and Cutler dam. Data collected includes flow measurements, channel cross section topology, riparian vegetation, beaver activity, and human-caused inflows and diversions. This poster presents the findings of the data analysis for one site at the confluence of the Bear and Cub Rivers. Fellows provide their insights related to their hydrological and ecological observations