Accomplished!!  The Restoration of Big Meadows

"Down through the mist, the young Tuolumne was seen pouring from its crystal fountains, now resting in glassy pools as if changing back again into ice, now leaping in white cascades as if turning to snow; gliding right and left between granite bosses, then sweeping on through the smooth, meadow levels of the valley, swaying pensively from side to side with calm, stately gestures past dipping willows and sedges, and around groves of arrowy pine; and throughout its whole eventful course, whether flowing fast or slow, singing loud or low, ever filling the landscape with spiritual animation, and manifesting the grandeur of its sources in every movement and tone."

John Muir, "A Near View of the High Sierra" in The Mountains of California, 1894

Although Mr. Muir’s comments above reflect on a more recognizable watershed nearby, they describe the exact same life process of Big Meadows Creek, which becomes the Kings River after descending the second deepest canyon in North America, entering just upstream from Boyden Cave as a Boulder Creek waterfall.

I have been very fortunate to be involved closely in the Big Meadows Creek restoration for the past four years. The board voted in late 2003 to use monies donated generously by Ted Martin to fund a Master’s thesis for Jason Olin, a graduate student at CSU Fresno.  Jason had a Bachelor’s in Geology with a focus on restoration.  This was the perfect person to support in his professional growth.  We had struggled a little looking for the appropriate project.  We knew that the PAG was doing good work on the Lower Kings, and that our original pot of money, while very generous, would not begin to fund the type of restoration needed on the Kings.  The project came to our attention from via Marc Cave from Wayne Luallen, a Visalia flyfisher and accomplished tier. 

Wayne with his wife Donna had been fishing in the meadows for over 30 years, teaching their niece, nephew, and friends the beginning motions of fly fishing.  It was a perfect location, you have to be very quiet and low with short accurate casts, but the fish are incredibly forgiving if you can keep out of sight.  Wayne speaks of hundreds of fish, catching many a day.  But over the years they had noticed the degradation of the meadows.  Wayne first took Roland Brady, Ph.D. from CSU Fresno Earth Science and I to see the meadows in the Fall of 2003.  By this time the stream was downcut, (actually stream bed lower than the meadow) by 5 feet in some places.  The water table beneath the ground was 5 feet lower because of this.  The grasses were drying out.  Their roots were only an inch and a half deep where they should have been 3 or 4 inches.  The sod was very dry, breaking apart and traveling downstream in a rush each year with the spring run off, digging the streambed deeper and deeper.  It became a seasonal flow, with only a few pools still full of water after July.  The Lodgepole pines were creeping into the meadow, having roots that were deep enough to get down to the water, no longer held back by the grasses.  The meadow was slowly disappearing.   So were the fish.

So, we supported Jason in his Thesis, gaining a large quantity of base information to establish the plan of restoration.  Dr. Brady brought down Jim Wilcox, who had studied and worked with Luna Leopold and Jim Rosgen.  He had taken their concepts of Geomorphology and expanded on the concept later called “Pond and Plug”.  Jim is well known and highly regarded as one of the top meadow and stream restorationists in the western United States.   Jim supervised Jason and designed the restoration plan.  When we had the plan drawn, we continued on with Jim implementing the design this fall. 

There was a drawback with one stakeholder group, Sequoia Forestkeeper.  They were very afraid of using a restoration technique that included a tracked front end loader and an excavator.   We talked with them quite a bit, sending them many pictures of previous projects, and giving them independent third party references from the Sierra Club, Audobon Society, and Trout Unlimited to name a few.  Eventually they withdrew their appeal of the project (just in the knick of time), and we broke ground October 6.

We finished the construction of the project during three weeks in October.  Kaweah Club along with volunteers from FFC came out and helped in many ways.  I can’t thank you enough for the support and hard work you’ve given in helping us accomplish this incredible change in the Meadows.

Below is the outline of our project, with a detailed timeline of what was accomplished and when.

Project Description

The project will restore the ecosystem function of Big Meadows and its associated riparian & aquatic habitat in a degraded stream channel traversing this alpine meadow in Sequoia National Forest. Big Meadow was adversely impacted by early 20th century overgrazing and other on-site impacts which led to channel downcutting.

·         The existing downcut stream channel will be eliminated, with streamflows returned to functional remnant channels on top of the meadow. This will restore the naturally evolved stream channel/floodplain connection to reduce erosion and filter upland sediments. Water quality will be improved.

·         The shallow meadow water table will be raised. This will reverse the ongoing

conversion of the vegetative community from wet meadow perennial grasses to dry meadow annual grasses and forbs. This will also increase in-stream cover and shading. Additionally, the project is expected to inhibit the encroachment of lodgepole pine into the meadow.

·         The increased area extent of productive meadow grasses will allow the livestock

permittee to adjust grazing management and disperse livestock away from the channel area to ensure the sustainability of the project.

·         The increased water retention of the restored meadow will attenuate peak flows and increase/extend summer base flows into the Kings River at a time much more advantageous to Water Management goals. This also restores and enhances habitat for Brook Trout. Fishing for these trout ia a major attraction at the adjacent campgrounds.

·         Community groups will be engaged in most of the work in this project, monitoring as well as learning and conducting restoration hands on.

On the ground accomplishments will be measured by physically monitoring the stream channel improvements and ecosystem response for a minimum of five (5) years post-project. The monitoring will encompass the metrics listed below. Affiliated local community groups are currently monitoring these with us in order to establish a pre-restoration baseline.

• Streamflow will be monitored year-round with a continuous recording stream gage.

• Changes in groundwater levels will be measured monthly, year-round, using existing

monitoring wells.

• Photo points will be established to document visual landscape changes.

• Five (5) cross-sections will be re-surveyed immediately after construction, and years 1, 3 and 5.

Project Accomplishments Timeline

Spring / Summer 2004

ü      Data collection

ü      Comprehensive field study, Jason Olin

Spring 2005

ü      Data analysis & interpretation

ü      Program development, grant proposals, partial funding

Fall/ Winter2005

ü      Jason Olin Thesis published, SERCAL presentation

ü      October Stakeholder walk

ü      Stakeholder meetings and resolution: October 2005

ü      Complete ground review with Jim Wilcox

ü      Jayne Ferrante receives training on grant proposal writing and management from Plumas Corporation staff.

ü      Fund raiser for Big Meadow (Fly Fishing Team USA)

ü      Upgrade existing and install additional monitoring devices for the Meadow, Peisometer xtensions, Pressure Transducer & Data logger.

ü      Coordinated with Sequoia National Forest NEPA process

ü      Nordic Ski club and Fly Fishing Club members help collect data all winter in the

 Meadow

Spring 2006

ü      June: Stakeholders to conduct cross section surveys in the meadow, expanding our data. Terry Henry, Sequoia National Forest Hydrologist and Jim Wilcox, Plumas Corp

supervised.

ü      Completed restoration design and budget projections, Jim Wilcox.

ü      Held a Stream Restoration Class taught by Jim Wilcox of Plumas Corporation with a

focus on basic elements of geomorphic restoration techniques. A variety of stakeholders

attended, including various agencies, the Sierra Club as well as members of two local Fly Fishing clubs.

Fall/Winter 2006

ü      Installed Datalogger & Pressure Transducer to monitor stream flows

ü      Further collection of baseline data.

Spring 2006

ü      Collaborate with Sequoia National Forest as they complete the final tasks of

Environmental Assessment (EA).

ü      Install signs for the public describing the problems and restoration process

ü      Further develop relationship with the grazer/permittee

Fall 2006

ü      Shock and remove all trout that are in construction areas to local pools.

ü      Excavate over 13,000 yards of earth to use in filling the current downcut channel. Restored 6900 feet of channel.  

ü      Set aside topsoil and use to top the filled in streambed, to allow the seed bank to sprout next spring. 

ü      Excavated areas are irregular in shape and depth, hold ponded water, increasing habitat for wildlife.  Utilized trees and large boulders to create habitat for fish and wildlife.  Some ponds will fill in over time, just as how the meadows were formed originally.

ü      Volunteers from Fresno Fly Fishers for Conservation and Kaweah Fly Fishers seed and mulch areas in restoration project.

Planned Activities 2009

ü      Monthly monitoring and data assimilation through three years post-project. Flow meter will be used monthly in monitoring activity. Photopoints taken monthly.

ü      Spring: Two pronged wildlife study with Forest Service and other partners: first general wildlife study on returning species, second, studying five sets of ponds (one established and one newly constructed) to determine multiple variables regarding aquatic species establishing themselves.

ü      Meadow walk and Stakeholder meeting post-project with project manager Jim Wilcox June 2009.  One year anniversary party in the Meadows.

A final note:  We’ve have a wonderful man, Stephen Lee who is a Hydrologist for the Department of Reclamation who is helping us with monitoring the meadows.  Stephen is also the person designing how the San Joaquin will flow to the ocean, so is very interesting to talk with.  We will have Stephen come and discuss Big Meadows soon, as well as help us understand the San Joaquin plan.

Jayne Ferrante

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