Paul Thompson and Dan Donovan used to fell timber and work in area mills.

But during a balmy Tuesday afternoon on Johnson Creek, the pair, dressed in hard hats and construction orange, were putting their skills to a very different use.

Using an excavator, the duo piled logs and whole trees — complete with roots — on top of a bar of boulders they’d placed in the middle of the creek.

On Tuesday, it looked like a mess. But come winter and high water, the creek will sort itself out; the logs and rocks will settle, pools will form downriver from the debris and gravel and sand will build up behind the obstacle.