SYRCL’s Van Norden Meadow Restoration Reaches Major Milestone: Lytton Creek Reconnected to Historic Floodplain

SYRCL is excited to share that Phase 2 of the Van Norden Meadow Restoration Project was completed this year! Phase 2 focused on restoring the Lytton Fan within the larger 485-acre Van Norden Meadow Restoration Project. The main objective of this portion of the project was to reconnect Lytton Creek with the Lytton Fan to activate a significant part of the floodplain in Van Norden Meadow, providing hydrologic and ecological benefits to a dry section of the meadow.

Restoration techniques included:

• An upstream rock plug and a lower berm
• Skim grading
• Culvert replacements in two locations
• Road realignment
• Installation of permeable pavers
• Decommissioning of the former Sheep Pens Parking area
• A new parking area and pit toilets installed just east of the Sheep Pens.

The Project team also planted willow stakes and seeded the work area to promote revegetation.

Through the use of these various techniques, the Project Team expects to activate the historic Lytton Fan so that water can flow in a dispersed way from the hillside into the meadow. The use of permeable pavers through a section of the Lake Van Norden Dam Road will support water movement across the road and into the meadow in a shallow dispersed manner. Encouraging dispersed flow in this way reduces erosion potential and reconnects remnant flow paths that are vital to bringing water into the meadow floodplain.

SYRCL is excited to have completed this milestone as part of the larger Van Norden Meadow Restoration Project. We are also proud to share that tree work continued around the meadow edge and additional beaver dam analogs were built in the 2025 implementation season.

In 2026, SYRCL will focus on post-restoration monitoring to continue to track the effectiveness of the various restoration techniques used in Phase 1 and Phase 2.

Post-restoration monitoring will also be used to track ecosystem benefits such as carbon storage, flow attenuation, groundwater recharge, water quality, plant diversity, and habitat for amphibians and birds.