Teachers Restore Butcherknife Creek to Create Outdoor Classroom

Steamboat Springs —The Yampa Valley Stream Improvement Charitable Trust finished a full restoration of Butcherknife Creek near Strawberry Park Elementary School. The work is done. Students are already using it.

The project revived trout habitat and aquatic insect life in a channelized creek bed. Fly Water Inc., a Fort Collins-based design firm, built the site. The trust funded it in full. They partnered with Trout Unlimited’s local chapter and the Yampa Valley Fly Fishers.

This wasn’t a city initiative or a state grant. It was two teachers who got tired of the status quo.

Bennett Colvin, a Steamboat Springs High School teacher, and Jeff Ruff, the trust president and retired social studies teacher, came up with the idea in August 2024. Both taught at Steamboat Springs Middle School then. Both are avid fishermen. They asked a simple question: what if there was a viable fishery right outside the classroom doors?

Colvin serves as the youth coordinator for the Yampa Valley Fly Fishers. He and Ruff approached their organizations for money. They got it.

Now, the creek is an outdoor classroom. Colvin takes his students there at least once a week. They examine water quality, river animals, riparian habitat, and birds. He calls it studying "what it takes to study a river." They also test the restoration’s effectiveness. They look for what else needs fixing.

Colvin wants his students to think like watershed scientists. He sees this as a pathway into natural resources careers.

Courtney Wiedel, who teaches at Steamboat Springs Middle School, uses the space for her sixth-grade class. She runs ecology lessons there. Her students observe the habitat and build food webs. The creek is a "thriving riparian habitat" at her doorstep.

Wiedel also runs a fly-tying club that meets every Friday morning. She uses the creek for inspiration. Students collect samples of insect life from the water. They mimic what they see in nature when they tie flies.

The class also does a math and science lesson focused on macroinvertebrates. They collect data on the types and quantities of bugs in the creek. That data determines water quality.

Sometimes, Wiedel said, they just go to the creek to "nature bathe" and meditate.

The physical changes are specific. The project increased and deepened water-holding areas. It added trees and vegetation to create a habitat that supports trout. The creek bed was channelized before this work. Now it functions as a living ecosystem.

The partnership structure matters here. The charitable trust provided the funding. The local chapters of Trout Unlimited and the Yampa Valley Fly Fishers provided the expertise and community connection. The school district provided the location and the students.

No one is claiming this solves all environmental issues in Steamboat Springs. But it puts a functional, healthy stream within walking distance of students who might otherwise never see one up close.

Colvin and Ruff started with a question in August 2024. They now have an answer that students touch, measure, and study every week.

The restoration is complete. The classroom is open.