The First Year of Round Valley Meadow Restoration Completed in Mid-August

September 15, 2026September 15, 2026

In mid-August, SYRCL completed the first year of meadow restoration at Round Valley using a low-tech process-based restoration (LTPBR) method called beaver dam analogs (BDAs). These hand-built structures use a combination of conifer trees, willow branches, rock, and soil all gathered from onsite and built in opportunistic locations to remedy incised and degraded channels within the meadow. All work was done by hand using shovels, loppers, and chainsaws by the restoration crew from Swift Water Design.

Here the Swift Water Design crew is staging conifer limbs to build a wide-spanning structure in a dry channel.

This year’s round of implementation lasted about two weeks, with additional rounds of restoration expected in the summers of 2027 and 2028.

Located at the headwaters of Lower Castle Creek, Round Valley is home to a population of the federally endangered and CA state threatened Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frogs (SNYLF) which utilize the meadow during all stages of life. Throughout the BDA build, SYRCL and the Tahoe National Forest staff were onsite to monitor for potential SNYLF in work areas. Within 24 hours of building the first structure, an adult SNYLF and adult Western Toad were observed utilizing the ponded water created by one of the BDAs.

An adult Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frog basking in the sun along Lower Castle Creek.

This reflects one of the project’s major goals: to improve habitat features for SNYLF through creating habitat complexity such as deeper, longer persisting pools and more bank and vegetative cover, ultimately providing refugia from predators. By restoring hydrologic function within the meadow, we expect to slow and spread water, which results in increased groundwater storage and reduced streamflow speed. Our restoration targets improved meadow health, which creates climate resilient habitat that will benefit SNYLF along with other wildlife species.

A SNYLF hanging out in the newly formed pond behind a BDA.

Restoration of Round Valley has been made possible thanks to funding from the Wildlife Conservation Board Block Grant being administered by Point Blue Conservation Science and the Sierra Meadows Partnership (SMP) that supported the planning phase of the Castle Valley and Round Valley Meadow Restoration Project. These early implementation efforts have been funded through mitigation funds made available through partnerships with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.