{"id":47845,"date":"2022-11-01T11:10:39","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T17:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/?p=47845"},"modified":"2026-08-19T13:46:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T19:46:53","slug":"side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Not just \u201cfor the birds\u201d: Side channel success at the Diane Moore Nature Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Heidi Ware Carlisle, IBO Education and Outreach Director<\/p>\n

As biologists, listening to bulldozer and dump truck engines rumble through the Diane Moore Nature Center in Fall 2021 was an exercise in trust: We\u2019d worked to find a fantastic engineering firm\u2014River Design Group<\/a>\u2014who had the experience needed to plan the side channel restoration project. We\u2019d carefully selected our project team, and consulted with experts on this kind of restoration.<\/p>\n

But still, it felt strange to watch as the side channel was carved through the dry soil where we knew the Boise River had once flowed.<\/p>\n

We wondered how quickly the rich riparian habitat we were hoping for would begin to take root, and what it would be like. We had a lot to do!<\/p>\n

\"a
Setting the boulder sill at the channel inlet. Photo Credit: Greg Kaltenecker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As soon as construction was complete we jumped to work restoring habitat with our teams of community volunteers, students, and partners like The Nature Conservancy<\/a> and Boise Valley Fly Fishers<\/a>. We planted thousands of native shrubs and willows, added spawning gravel to welcome trout, and wired cottonwood trees to slow down exuberant beavers.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n <\/i>
\n IBO Beaver<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/a>
\n <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

When spring arrived we were amazed to watch as plants and wildlife started moving into the new habitat we created.<\/p>\n

It was an explosion of biodiversity that happened much faster than we had predicted!<\/p>\n

New sightings and updates<\/a> came pouring in from seemingly everyone who visited the site. Greg and our student intern team spotted Rainbow Trout<\/a> spawning in the side channel in April. They seemed to love the carefully engineered pools, gravel bars, and root wads we\u2019d created!<\/p>\n

\"a
An adult Rainbow Trout spawning in the side channel for the first time in spring 2022! Photo Credit: Greg Kaltenecker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One day, our work study student Aaron spotted a pair of River Otters<\/a> cruising down the channel!! A new species for the site, and one we hope sticks around.<\/p>\n

Belted Kingfishers and Common Mergansers quickly learned where the best fishing pools were and visited daily to catch a quick meal. One male Kingfisher in particular immediately claimed the upper half of the side channel as his territory. He spent the whole year loudly defending that stretch against any intruders\u2026we\u2019ve never had such fierce kingfisher activity at our site.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s safe to say the side channel project must have created some pretty desirable real estate for this species!<\/p>\n

We spotted a mother Wood Duck with a brood of ducklings (probably hatched in one of the nest boxes built by Girl Scout Troop #186). And a hen Mallard and her family visited us during each of our summer songbird banding days, gobbling up insects and other invertebrates that congregated in the woody debris and log jams along the side channel.<\/p>\n

\"two
A hen Wood Duck protects her brood. Photo Credit: Ken Miracle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Boise State graduate student, Stephen Ritter, spent the summer surveying the side channel for these aquatic insects to better understand how species moved into the channel after restoration.<\/p>\n

Hummingbirds and warblers spent time flycatching in the clouds of insects congregating over the channel.<\/p>\n

The crew enjoyed watching newly emerged mayflies land on our arms as we studied and banded songbirds, and passing fly-fishers rejoiced to see such great hatches of \u201ctrout food\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"a
A trout fry shelters near boulders in the side channel of the Diane Moore Nature Center. Photo Credit: Heidi Ware Carlisle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During visits to our station this fall, students exclaimed over the tiny speckled trout fry swimming among the logs in the channel. Many recalled stories from their 4th grade classroom of raising trout “just like these”! Kids clamored over rocks, finding Western Fence Lizards<\/a>, Western Terrestrial Garter Snakes<\/a>, and Sierran Tree Frogs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They learned about much more than just birds during these class field trips!<\/p>\n

\"a
We spotted this young Western Terrestrial Garter Snake enjoying one of the last warm fall days at the Diane Moore Nature Center. Photo Credit: Arlo Thomas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Timberline High School Senior and long-time IBO volunteer, Arlo Thomas, wasn\u2019t busy extracting birds from our nets or talking with visitors about our research he began carefully documenting the Signal Crayfish<\/a> that were living in the channel.<\/p>\n

\"a
This whopper Signal Crayfish weighed more than a male Sharp-shinned Hawk! Photo Credit: Heidi Ware Carlisle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We were stunned by the number of individuals we found. And even more impressed by the size of some of the specimens. One day we banded a male Sharp-shinned Hawk that was dwarfed by a crayfish Arlo caught and we were absolutely amazed\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026the crayfish weighed 20 grams MORE than the hawk!<\/p>\n

\"a
Arlo Thomas shows a young male Sharp-shinned Hawk to a class of elementary students visiting our banding station at the Diane Moore Nature Center. Photo Credit: Heidi Ware Carlisle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though we\u2019ve been doing habitat restoration at the Diane Moore Nature Center since 2018- adding about 2,000 native plants each fall- this year really took the cake!<\/p>\n

It was a joy to watch the changes take place after the side channel was installed.<\/p>\n

We knew about the value of side-channel construction \u201con paper\u201d, and had written numerous proposals about the benefits of this kind of restoration. But, it was still amazing to see it happen in real life. We can\u2019t wait to see what future seasons have in store as the habitat around the channel continues to improve!<\/p>\n

\"a
Sierran Tree Frogs moved in to the channel soon after restoration. This one enjoyed perching on our newly planted riparian shrubs! Photo Credit: Greg Kaltenecker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This spring it will be all hands on deck at the Diane Moore Nature Center. If you\u2019d like to help us plant shrubs or work on other habitat restoration projects at the site, sign up for updates using our volunteer form<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article is part of our 2022 end of the year newsletter! View the full newsletter here<\/a>, or click \u201colder posts\u201d to read the next article.<\/em><\/p>\n

Make sure you don\u2019t miss out on IBO news! Sign up to get our email updates.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As biologists, listening to bulldozer and dump truck engines rumble through the Diane Moore Nature Center in Fall 2021 was an exercise in trust. We\u2019d carefully selected our project team, and consulted with experts on this kind of restoration. But still, it felt strange to watch as the side channel was carved through the dry soil where we knew the Boise River had once flowed.
\nWe wondered how quickly the rich riparian habitat we were hoping for would begin to take root, and what it would be like. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1689,"featured_media":47855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2887,2890,263,273,1197,2858,271],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2022-newsletter","category-archive","category-banding","category-boise-river","category-teachers","category-k12students","category-songbirds"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSide channel success at the Diane Moore Nature Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As biologists, listening to bulldozer rumble through the Diane Moore Nature Center was an exercise in trust. Habitat restoration work was...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Not just \u201cfor the birds\u201d: Side channel success at the Diane Moore Nature Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As biologists, listening to bulldozer rumble through the Diane Moore Nature Center was an exercise in trust. Habitat restoration work was...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Intermountain Bird Observatory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-01T17:10:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-19T19:46:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2022\/11\/WODU-Ken-Miracle-not-taken-at-BORI.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"953\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"As biologists, listening to bulldozer rumble through the Diane Moore Nature Center was an exercise in trust. Habitat restoration work was...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/01\\\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/01\\\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Not just \u201cfor the birds\u201d: Side channel success at the Diane Moore Nature Center\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-01T17:10:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-19T19:46:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/01\\\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1076,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/01\\\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/141\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/WODU-Ken-Miracle-not-taken-at-BORI.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"2022 Newsletter\",\"Archive\",\"Banding\",\"Boise River\",\"For Teachers\",\"K-12 Students\",\"Songbirds\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/01\\\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/01\\\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\\\/\",\"name\":\"Side channel success at the Diane Moore Nature Center\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/01\\\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/01\\\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/141\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/WODU-Ken-Miracle-not-taken-at-BORI.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-01T17:10:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-19T19:46:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"description\":\"As biologists, listening to bulldozer rumble through the Diane Moore Nature Center was an exercise in trust. Habitat restoration work was...\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/01\\\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/01\\\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/141\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/WODU-Ken-Miracle-not-taken-at-BORI.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/141\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/WODU-Ken-Miracle-not-taken-at-BORI.jpg\",\"width\":3099,\"height\":2048,\"caption\":\"A hen Wood Duck protects her brood. Photo Credit: Ken Miracle\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/\",\"name\":\"Intermountain Bird Observatory\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/ibo\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Side channel success at the Diane Moore Nature Center","description":"As biologists, listening to bulldozer rumble through the Diane Moore Nature Center was an exercise in trust. Habitat restoration work was...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Not just \u201cfor the birds\u201d: Side channel success at the Diane Moore Nature Center","og_description":"As biologists, listening to bulldozer rumble through the Diane Moore Nature Center was an exercise in trust. Habitat restoration work was...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/","og_site_name":"Intermountain Bird Observatory","article_published_time":"2022-11-01T17:10:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-19T19:46:53+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2022\/11\/WODU-Ken-Miracle-not-taken-at-BORI.jpg","width":953,"height":630,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_description":"As biologists, listening to bulldozer rumble through the Diane Moore Nature Center was an exercise in trust. Habitat restoration work was...","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Not just \u201cfor the birds\u201d: Side channel success at the Diane Moore Nature Center","datePublished":"2022-11-01T17:10:39+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-19T19:46:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/"},"wordCount":1076,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2022\/11\/WODU-Ken-Miracle-not-taken-at-BORI.jpg","articleSection":["2022 Newsletter","Archive","Banding","Boise River","For Teachers","K-12 Students","Songbirds"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/","url":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/","name":"Side channel success at the Diane Moore Nature Center","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2022\/11\/WODU-Ken-Miracle-not-taken-at-BORI.jpg","datePublished":"2022-11-01T17:10:39+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-19T19:46:53+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"description":"As biologists, listening to bulldozer rumble through the Diane Moore Nature Center was an exercise in trust. Habitat restoration work was...","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2022\/11\/01\/side-channel-success-at-the-diane-moore-nature-center\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2022\/11\/WODU-Ken-Miracle-not-taken-at-BORI.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2022\/11\/WODU-Ken-Miracle-not-taken-at-BORI.jpg","width":3099,"height":2048,"caption":"A hen Wood Duck protects her brood. Photo Credit: Ken Miracle"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/","name":"Intermountain Bird Observatory","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/author\/"}]}},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2022\/11\/WODU-Ken-Miracle-not-taken-at-BORI.jpg","author_name":"","cats":["2022 Newsletter","Archive","Banding","Boise River","For Teachers","K-12 Students","Songbirds"],"featured_caption":"A hen Wood Duck protects her brood. Photo Credit: Ken Miracle","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1689"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47845"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53699,"href":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47845\/revisions\/53699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}