SYRCL’s Meadow Restoration Program Receives Funding From the National Forest Foundation

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Loney Meadow with aspen trees on the fringe

Founded by Congress in 1991, the National Forest Foundation (NFF) works to conserve, restore and enhance America’s 193-million-acre National Forest System. Through community-based strategies and public-private partnerships, the NFF helps enhance wildlife habitat, revitalizes wildfire-damaged landscapes, restores watersheds, and improves recreational resources for the benefit of all Americans.

SYRCL has received funds from The National Forest Foundation Matching Awards Program to support its 2014 meadow restoration efforts! SYRCL has been working with The Sierra Nevada Conservancy and The Tahoe National Forest since 2011 to restore aspen habitat in meadows within the upper Yuba watershed. Aspens, known for their beautiful fall color, are important indicators of meadow ecosystem health. The tree is known to grow in dense clonal stands which are estimated to live between 1,000 and 1 million years of age. Aspen stands create unique habitats that are more diverse than either neighboring meadows or conifer dominated forests and can help to promote ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change.

After a century of fire suppression and grazing pressure, aspen populations are seriously threatened by conifer encroachment. SYRCL has responded to this issue by engaging and training volunteers to document and remove conifers on meadow fringes.  If you are interested in joining SYRCL to help to restore meadows and aspen habitat, please contact adele@syrcl.org, SYRCL’s AmeriCorps Restoration Coordinator.

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