The PrincipAL Partners
Dr. Steve BennettFish & wildlife ecologist
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Steve is a principal and co-founder of Anabranch Solutions. Steve is a veteran in conservation, wildlife biology and restoration ecology. He has worked all over North America on conservation issues ranging forestry and fisheries to wildlife management. Steve and Nick started working together in 2007, when Steve joined Eco Logical Research, and they started the Asotin Creek Intensively Monitored Watershed. Steve and Joe started working together in 2009 on developing cheaper ways of building instream wood structures (see HDLWD) in the Asotin. Steve earned a PhD in Fisheries Biology from Utah State University in 2007, where he contributed to conservation planning for Westslope cutthroat populations in British Columbia. Steve continues to study cutthroat, and is involved with maintaining a long-term research project for Bonneville cutthroat in Logan. Steve joined the Department of Watershed Sciences as a Senior Research Scientist in 2011 and became an Adjunct Assistant Professor in 2013. Steve has a wide range of experience in river, forestry, wildlife, and fisheries sciences, and also carries a Masters in Resource and Environmental Management from Simon Fraser University, and a B.S. in Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana. Stephen and his wife road trip to bird hot spots whenever they can.
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Dr. Nicolaas Bouwesstream ecologistNick is a principal and co-founder of Anabranch Solutions. Nick was one of the PIs and visionaries behind the Bridge Creek Intensively Monitored Watershed Project and has been driving force behind developing ways that restoration can actually produce population level responses in fish. After earning a PhD in Ecology at Utah State University, Nick went on to work as a biometrician for ODFW developing management alternatives for salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin. Nick started Eco Logical Research in 2000, and has since been working collaboratively with state, federal, tribal agencies and NGOs to develop status and effectiveness monitoring programs addressing NOAA and USFWS biological opinions and recovery plans for threatened species. Nick also maintains an adjunct faculty position in the Department of Watershed Sciences at Utah State University where he teaches fish habitat and ecology.
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Dr. Joseph wheatoneco-geomorphologist & Former engineer
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Joe is a principal and co-founder of Anabranch Solutions. Joe is an Associate Professor at Utah State University and a fluvial geomorphologist with over fifteen years of experience in river restoration as both a design practitioner and researcher. Joe's research is focused on better understanding the dynamics of rivers and streams, how such fluvial processes shape instream and riparian habitats, and how biota modulate and amplify those processes. For example, some of Joe's research focuses on how the dam building activity of beaver alter physical habitat for their own benefit, but also to the benefit of a slew of other fauna and flora.
Much of Joe's work focuses on taking such understandings and translating them into useful applications. For example, Joe has helped pioneer the development of new stream restoration approaches (e.g. cheap and cheerful restoration techniques like using beaver as a restoration agent), building large scale monitoring programs that leverage the latest technologies (e.g. Columbia Habitat Monitoring Program and Big Rivers Monitoring Program), and building new analytical software apps (e.g. Geomorphic Change Detection Software) and simulation models (e.g. MORPHED, BRAT) to help scientists and practitioners alike. Joe's work straddles the interface between physical and ecological sciences. Joe runs the Ecogeomorphology & Topographic Analysis Lab in Utah State University's Department of Watershed Science and his group is a leader in the monitoring and modeling of riverine habitats and watersheds. He worked four years in consulting engineering before completing his B.S. in Hydrology (2002, UC Davis), an M.S. in Hydrologic Sciences (2003, UC Davis), and a Ph.D. in Geography (2008, University of Southampton, UK). He worked as a lecturer in Physical Geography (University of Wales 2006-08), Research Assistant Professor in Geology (Idaho State University, 2008-09) before becoming an Assistant Professor at Utah State University (2009-Present) where he teaches courses on geomorphology, fluvial hydraulics, ecohydraulics, GIS, geomorphic change detection, and river restoration. |
