Aaron Beavers joins the podcast for his first-ever podcast appearance to discuss his career path, fish passage engineering, and what brought him to Kleinschmidt.
Career Journey:
Aaron’s passion for fish started young — he originally planned to become a fisheries biologist. After a stint in the Army, a visit to a salmon restoration project on the Merced River changed his trajectory when he learned engineers were doing the channel design work. He switched his major on the drive home, eventually earning a master’s from BYU, where he also did fish passage research. After a brief stint in private consulting in Northern California (cut short by the 2008 housing crash), he landed at NOAA Fisheries in Portland, where he spent 17 years as a fish passage engineer working across the Pacific Northwest and California. In February 2025, he took an early retirement from the federal government, and by January 2026, he had joined Kleinschmidt — his top-choice consulting firm — drawn largely by the opportunity to work on salmon reintroduction above Grand Coulee Dam.
Key Themes:
Biology drives design: Aaron repeatedly emphasizes that the biggest shortcoming in fish passage engineering is coming in with a predetermined solution. The biological needs must inform the studies, the questions, and ultimately the engineered structures.
Interdisciplinary approach: A good fish passage engineer needs to understand biology, geomorphology, and water — not just engineering criteria. Aaron took ichthyology, wetland ecology, and fluvial geomorphology coursework, and spent his life in rivers and streams building practical understanding.
Regulatory fluency: Working across California, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington, Aaron learned that understanding state and federal regulatory differences — not just engineering — is essential to successful project delivery.
Broadening horizons: At NOAA, he actively tracked international fish passage innovations, consulting with engineers in Europe and Australia on technologies like nature-like fishways and pumped fish passage systems.
Why Kleinschmidt: From his NOAA vantage point observing the top fish passage firms, Aaron saw that Kleinschmidt consistently integrated biologists and engineers, let biology drive design, navigated diverse stakeholders effectively, and moved projects through the regulatory process faster with higher-quality results.
Career Advice for Aspiring Fish Passage Engineers:
1. Cross-train across disciplines — take coursework in biology, geomorphology, and engineering.
2. Develop a deep, hands-on understanding of water and rivers — get outdoors, volunteer with local fisheries biologists.
3. Build relationships — trust and genuine connection with stakeholders, regulators, and colleagues are the true drivers of project success.
Most Impactful Career Lesson:
Aaron credits his former NOAA supervisor, Keith Kuykendall, with the advice that “it’s all about relationships.” Trust built through genuine, authentic connection — and taking time to know people as individuals — reduces timelines, improves outcomes, and keeps projects moving forward.