In The News: Gonzaga Students Get Busy Replicating Beaver Habitat

people placing large wooden poles in a streambed
Students building a beaver dam analog. Photo by Zack Berlat
June 04, 2026
Gonzaga University News Service

The Inlander newspaper in Spokane recently published its annual “Scholastic Fantastic” issue full of stories related to work being done at the region’s colleges and universities.

A story about Gonzaga’s Sue Niezgoda, professor of civil engineering, and her work with students and partner organizations The Lands Council and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service kicks off the issue.

Niezgoda and her students work throughout the Inland Northwest to analyze waterways and construct beaver dam analogs (BDAs), which replicate naturally occurring dams. The BDAs serve to restore riparian habitats damaged by years of human use, the article by reporter Dora Scott says, often resulting in “negative impacts like soil erosion, increased wildfire risk and pollution.”

Niezgoda notes in the article that the BDAs are a perfect way for Gonzaga students to get field experience they just can’t get in a classroom.


“It’s a really good experience for them to have these open-ended, real-world problems that they get out in the field,” Niezgoda told The Inlander. “The implement, they see it in action, which is a great benefit for their learning process and making them better engineers and environmental scientists.”

Myers Gorrell (’25) concurred, telling The Inlander: “I love doing field work and getting outside and getting my hands dirty. Being able to be involved in this riparian restoration project was really gratifying to me and pretty cool that we can imitate an animal’s habitat and create a lot of benefits.”

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The Inlander