While low-tech, process-based restoration (LTPBR) techniques – including beaver mimicry – have emerged as a key strategy for ecological restoration, they also offer opportunities for community engagement. Implementing restoration strategies that can help retain water on the landscape is particularly important as climate change increases both drought and the frequency of intense precipitation events in Colorado. Installation of beaver dam mimicking structures is often done with heavy machinery and paid work crews, however, there are many benefits to engaging volunteers in this work. Here, I will discuss a model of offering both leadership and technical training to volunteers to guide small crews of less experienced volunteers to install these structures. Engaging volunteers not only helps get the work done, but it also empowers people to take action; build connections with each other, with land managers, and with the land; and helps foster a sense of ownership and stewardship over the restored areas. This example of implementation of high-quality beaver mimicry projects offers a blueprint for effective ecological restoration and community engagement. Through this session, I aim to inspire wider collaboration and innovation in ecological restoration efforts and encourage practitioners in the field to adopt our model.