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Mountain meadows are wetland areas of extremely high value for natural water storage, water quality, and wildlife habitat. Mountain meadows occur in relatively flat areas where sediment and water accumulates. Meadows habitats are highly diverse, sequester carbon, and often provide habitat for sensitive or threatened species. Meadows store and filter water, releasing cool water slowly into the summer months when California needs it the most.
However, most meadows in the Sierra Nevada have been degraded by past human land use activities, such as intensive grazing practices, climate change, fire suppression, hydrologic modifications, timber harvesting, road and trail building.
Restoring meadows is necessary from the standpoint of conserving and protecting the state’s water resources, sequestering carbon, acting as a natural firebreak in an era of catastrophic wildfires, and as an important habitat for sensitive native species. Because meadows are of both hydrological and ecological importance, SYRCL has taken on the task of assessing and restoring meadows in the Yuba watershed.
Over the last decade, SYRCL has worked closely with Tahoe National Forest, the US Forest Service and researchers to understand and improve the Yuba watershed’s meadow ecosystems through meadow assessments and restoration projects focused on revitalization of stream and wetland habitats.
Additionally, we continue to monitor the success of our projects by gathering data that provides insight into how restoration efforts are benefitting ecosystem function in meadows.
The Castle Peak trailhead is one of the most heavily utilized OHV/OSV and non-motorized use trailheads on the Truckee Ranger District. It is severely limited by undesignated parking and a lack of restroom facilities. The result is that users are forced to park unsafely on roads or in forested areas exacerbating soil compaction, runoff, and…
Van Norden meadow (Yayalu Itdeh in Washoe), an important Sierra meadow at the headwaters of the South Yuba River, was purchased in 2012 and saved from development by the Truckee Donner Land Trust, multiple local conservation groups, and thousands of local community members who supported the campaign and raised funds to save this property. SYRCL,…
Alecia Weisman, SYRCL’s Watershed Science Program Manager, gives a presentation to the SYRCL staff about SYRCL’s meadow restoration work and the importance role meadows play in the watershed.
SYRCL, in partnership with the Tahoe National Forest, is wrapping up the planning phase and moving toward restoration implementation on 229 acres of meadow habitat within five high priority meadows in the North Yuba Watershed: Haskell Headwaters Fen, Chapman Saddle Meadow, West Church Meadow, Freeman Meadow, and Bear trap Meadow. Haskell Headwaters Fen, Chapman Saddle…