Cost/benefit analysis Cottonwood Creek Project

Costs:

Materials: existing conifers need to be removed or rearranged if already down. There is plenty of materials on site. Gas for transportation to the site and chainsaw fuel/maintenance are the biggest expenses, and those will be absorbed by the owner & volunteer doing the work.

Opportunity costs: at the beginning we made it clear that these are cattle operations, and cattle need access to the stream. We have learned some ways to guide and control the flow of cattle and even reap benefits from their inevitably tromping in the water. There will be no opportunity costs other than what we could be doing with our time instead of building and maintaining BDAs. This is the beauty of retired volunteers who need something to do, and who own chainsaws.

Short term benefits: In some areas we hope to see immediate stream division and currently dry areas flooding the way they used to. In other areas where the water backs up and deepens, we hope to see changes in the vegetation in the short term.

Long term benefits: the primary long term benefit will be increased water storage on the land.  We are also working on conifer encroachment mitigation, so it is possible that there will be more water available to the stream from that effort, moving more slowly across the land from our BDA & stream division efforts.

If we are successful, there will be multiple benefits: elevated water table, improved habitat for wildlife and cattle, better soil, better fire resilience areas, and happier fish. I guess there will be financial benefits from that, too, but that is not the target.

I have a friend that says the land has been feeding the family for several generations, and it would be nice to feed the land for a change, instead.