Planning Meadow Restoration in the North Yuba: Galiano Fen and Haypress West Pre-Project Monitoring

Last year, SYRCL received a grant from the Wildlife Conservation Board Block Grant being administered by Point Blue and the Sierra Meadows Partnership (SMP) to plan restoration in two distinct North Yuba wetlands: Galiano Fen and Haypress West Meadow.  

Since then, staff from SYRCL’s watershed science team have been busy working to get these projects off the ground. We spent the 2025 field season conducting pre-project monitoring, hiring project contractors, and beginning to review restoration designs.  

At SYRCL we understand the important role that data plays in the restoration, conservation, and policy world. We work tirelessly to collect baseline condition data at each of our project sites before we implement restoration. This data collection effort helps us to better understand the impact of our work. Without baseline data collection to compare with our post-restoration monitoring, we can’t measure the success of our projects. Conversations informed and supported by this data help guide water policy in the state, secure future grant funding, and continue to advance restoration science.  

To get the baseline data necessary for a project such as this, here are some of the things that SYRCL monitored in Galiano Fen and Haypress Headwater West Meadow this year:  

• Conifer Data – This data set looks at the current extent of conifer encroachment into wetland communities. Decreased groundwater levels caused by the meadow’s degradation create dry enough conditions for conifers to move in. These trees then draw more groundwater from the meadow, degrading it further and creating a positive feedback loop. When we restore the hydrology in meadows, we create unfavorable conditions for conifers. We often pair hydrologic restoration with conifer removal. This data set allows us to look at the change in conifer abundance before and after restoration as well as how effective restoration is at preventing the establishment of young coniferous seedlings.   

• Vegetation Community – This monitoring dataset informs how plant communities change in response to hydrologic restoration. SYRCL scientists establish monitoring lines across the sites called belt transects with 10 m² plots placed along each line. Plot locations are selected in areas that we anticipate seeing the most change following restoration. Within these plots we begin by recording the percentage of rocks, moss, litter, basal area of plants, and bare ground. Staff then record every plant species observed in the plot and assign it a percent of the total vegetation. We will conduct the same monitoring after restoration to see if communities shift to more wetland obligate plants or plants that require more abundant water.

• Hydrology – SYRCL staff monitor several aspects of the hydrology at each site. After assessing site conditions, such as water availability across the meadow, inflow and outflow pathways, and areas that could be re-wetted with restorative actions, staff install stream gages and shallow groundwater monitoring wells. Streamflow discharge and groundwater depth data are collected at these locations every other week to measure water availability as the seasons change. These survey data are then related to continuous monitoring instruments inside the stream gages and wells so that we are able to track water levels even during the winter and spring months when they are buried under snow. After restoration occurs, we expect to see changes in the distribution of water availability both timing-wise and location-wise in the meadow such that groundwater is distributed more broadly and closer to the surface in new parts of the meadow and surface water is leaving the meadow less rapidly during storm events and a little later into the summer and fall months. 

• Carbon – SYRCL contracts with the University of Nevada Reno to collect soil samples that are evaluated for soil carbon stocks back at their on-campus lab. Healthy meadows are incredibly powerful carbon sinks. When meadows become degraded, they lose their ability to sequester carbon. This summer they collected samples at both project sites and recorded GPS points for each sample. Following restoration, soil samples will be collected from the same locations and then we can compare the amount of carbon stored in the soil before and after restoration.  

In the mix of all this data collection, SYRCL staff also toured the sites with project contractors from many disciplines. We have hired Balance Hydrologics to engineer restoration designs, Stantec Consulting Services to conduct biological surveys, and Nichols Consulting Engineers to support the USFS in conducting archeological surveys. This project would not be possible without support from the dedicated staff from the Tahoe National Forest (TNF) and our volunteers. 

In June, volunteers joined staff from SYRCL and TNF out at Galiano Fen to install cattle exclusion fencing around the most delicate part of this wetland community. This fence remained in place until early October after the cattle were removed from the allotment. If you would like to be involved in this effort next year, keep an eye on our newsletter in early summer to sign up.  

Galiano Fen and Haypress West Meadow are currently being planned under the same grant, but, as we move into the implementation phase, they will be spilt into individual projects. This will be done to support implementing these projects on different timelines, increasing staff capacity while also allowing SYRCL more time to secure funding and permits for each project. Our goal is to begin implementation at Galiano Fen in summer 2026 with Haypress West following suit with groundbreaking in summer 2027. 

Meadow restoration projects like Galiano Fen and Haypress West Meadow require years of careful planning, scientific monitoring, and dedicated staff time before a single shovel breaks ground. Your support makes this work possible. From baseline data collection to hiring expert contractors to long-term post-restoration monitoring, every phase of meadow restoration depends on community investment in watershed health. These restored meadows will store water during droughts, reduce wildfire risk, provide critical wildlife habitat, and sequester carbon for generations to come. Donate today to support science-based meadow restoration that builds climate resilience across the Yuba River watershed.