Cottonwood Alumni Mix Laughter, Labor, and a Little Mud While Building Beaver Dam Analogs at Caribou Ranch. Written by CI Senior Instructor Erin Angel.
Our group of Cottonwood Alumni gathered together for a weekend of hard work, adventure and much-needed silliness over the weekend of October 11-12. The group of college freshmen and sophomores and students who went directly into the workforce greeted each other with smiles, picking up just where they left off in their Changemaker days.
Our Alums joined Wildlands Restoration Volunteers for a day of building Beaver Dam Analogs at Caribou Ranch, an open space dear to our hearts. We worked in partnership with Boulder County Open Space and Boulder Watershed Collective to build large mud and stick structures in the stream to mimic beaver dams (and hopefully attract beavers back to the area) while preserving the habitat of the Greenback Cutthroat Trout that biologists have spotted in the area. That all sounds scientific, but the reality is that it is a bunch of people playing in the mud and building dams in the stream, like when we were kids. Who knew that our childhood experiences would serve a scientific purpose?
After a full day of play/work under the golden aspens of Caribou Ranch, our crew shouldered our backpacks and headed to a nearby wilderness campsite. The stars were amazing and the wind whooshed through the tops of the tall stand of firs we camped in, while we stayed protected on the ground below.
“This is exactly where I am supposed to be. I’m in the middle of midterms, and this is just what I needed.”
-Cottonwood Alumna gazing at golden aspens after working hard all day on a service project
The next day we woke up to snow and tested our abilities to make a fire in wet conditions. We were successful with one match! Our Cottonwood Instructors would be proud. We played lots of silly games and enjoyed the company of good friends; like-minded folks we can’t always find in the world at large. We hiked and explored boulder fields (a game of Camouflage, anyone? YES!) and old mining areas. Everyone went back to our other lives completely refreshed and renewed by hard work, good friends, and spending time with Mother Nature.
A sincere thank you to everyone who attended the 2025 Base Camp Bash, which helped raised the critical funding for our Alumni Engagement programs this year.
If you too are passionate about getting students outside to have unique, service-learning experiences, please consider making a donation or becoming a monthly donor! You’ll help invest in our students, programs, and long-term sustainability and success!
