Haskell Peak Meadows: Implementation Year Two and RFB Release 

The SYRCL headwaters team is gearing up for another exciting year of implementation work on the Haskell Peak Meadows Restoration Project. This project is working to restore five meadows in the headwaters of the North Yuba River. 

Last fall, we began restoration using low impact, process-based restoration techniques by building structures like Beaver Dam Analoges (BDAs) and Post Assisted Log Structures (PALS). This year, we plan to remove relic features, like ditches and roads, that have been interrupting meadow hydrology. This will require working with contractors who can remove an earthen road base in West Church Meadow, fill a relic ditch that is draining Freeman Meadow, and replace an undersized culvert with a low water crossing.  

We Are Requesting Bids For The Work.

If you know a qualified contractor, please have them reach out to Rose Ledford (rose@yubariver.org) to get all the necessary information to prepare a formal bid.  

Why Do We Need Contractors? 

Once upon a time the area surrounding the Sierra Buttes was teeming with miners who had come from all over the country on a quest to find Gold. The California Gold Rush permanently altered Indigenous communities and the environments throughout the Sierra Nevada. Although seemingly remote and tucked away in the North Yuba landscape, the critical habitats of the Haskell Peak meadows were not immune to the impacts of these ambitious humans. As word of the rich tertiary gold deposits got out, mines began to pop up. Miners required water to run their sluice boxes, space to graze their livestock, places to build their homesteads, and roads to get around—all of which altered the hydrology of these meadows.  

This fall we will be working with contractors to reverse some of these alterations made by early European settlers. 

Currently, West Church Meadow is being bisected by a relic road. This road is no longer in use and is altering the meadow hydrology. In the image below, the basemap is represented as a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and you can see where the relic road is running across the southern edge of the meadow. Notice how the streamlines are altered by this elevated feature? The water is forced to flow out of the meadow footprint to the west and does not return for nearly 150 ft. In the attached image you can see the historic stream channels that are dry and cut off from upstream flows.  

To address this negative hydrologic impact, we will have contractors decommission this road through decompaction of the 0.04-mile earthen road base, removing stumps, and matching the elevation to that of the meadow floodplain. In the photo below you can see the existing earthen road base that was once lined with trees and is sitting above the adjacent meadow surface.  

After contractors have completed work in Church Meadow, they will take the dirt material generated from the decommissioned road and use it in the work to be done at Freeman Meadow to the east. Freeman is currently being dewatered by a ditch left over from the Gold Rush days. This abandoned irrigation ditch, no different than all the other relic features quilting the landscape, was once used to take water from the upper reaches of the meadow and send it off to be used in placer mining. This seemingly harmless ditch, which is no deeper than a foot, continues to pull water out of the meadow and into the adjacent woodlands. This fall, we will have contractors use the dirt generated at West Church to plug and fill this ditch feature to prevent future draining of Freeman Meadow.  

Our second focus at Freeman Meadow will be the removal of an undersized culvert. Drainage culverts, especially undersized ones, have a reputation for disrupting meadow hydrology by constricting flow and increasing velocity. Increased velocity in meadows causes more erosion leading to deeply incised channels and ultimately degraded meadow systems. To address this, we will have contractors remove and replace the culvert with a cobble lined low water crossing. This feature will no longer constrict flows in Church Creek and will allow for a more natural riffle feature while also maintaining vehicular passage on the Forest Service Road.  

We are excited to continue working to restore these critical habitats and look forward to sharing the results with you at the end of the implementation season. Until then, keep an eye peeled for the announcement of meadow related volunteer opportunities happening this summer!