In 2022, OAEC’s WATER Institute joined forces with a team of other natural resource professionals, agencies and organizations to launch the California Process-based Restoration (Cal PBR) Network. In contrast to form-based restoration, which often requires high costs and fossil fuel inputs, process-based restoration uses simple, low-cost techniques like adding woody debris that mimic beaver dams to riverscapes. PBR harnesses the system’s natural energy, materials, space and time to do most of the restoration “work.”
The goal of the Cal PBR Network is to increase the capacity of practitioners to design and implement process-based restoration approaches to restore degraded ecosystems and build California’s resiliency to drought, wildfire and climate change. This open-source network provides a central hub for information exchange, cross-discipline dialogue and collaboration between diverse partners.
Every year, the Network convenes in-person “Build Like a Beaver” (BLAB) trainings for practitioners, land managers and regulators interested in gaining hands-on experience in designing, permitting and implementing process-based restoration techniques at a watershed scale.
Check out the following blogs from past trainings to learn more about these inspiring events:
