In early 2015, Placer Land Trust was approached by Louise Jackson of UC Davis and Valerie Calegari of Audubon California regarding restoration work at our Doty Ravine Preserve and their need for information on riparian restoration in rangeland settings. They were tasked with putting together a manual that would assist restoration professionals, volunteers and rangeland operators (ranchers and farmers) with riparian restoration projects.
The booklet would focus on projects in the Northern California foothills and Central Valley and would include not only the successful aspects of the projects but the failures or “learning experiences” of each project. This is something that most restoration guides and reports lack despite the information being extremely valuable for future restoration projects.
PLT Land Manager Justin Wages took Louise and Valerie on a tour of the Doty Ravine Preserve and provided details on past and current projects. They subsequently created a booklet that covers our 20-acre riparian floodplain restoration project completed by our contractor Westervelt Ecological Services in 2009, as well as a portion of an ongoing 17 acre riparian and grassland restoration project. We are thrilled to have one of our projects included in this publication!
The full manual can be found on the University of California, Jackson Soil and Root Ecology Lab website with the following introduction:
Ranches that rim California’s Central Valley are important in providing habitat for many animal species that were once wide-ranging, e.g. freshwater fish, wintering birds and waterfowl, invertebrates, and mammals. Rangeland riparian corridors, though often seasonally ephemeral, provide ecological connectivity with the large river systems in the Central Valley. Riparian restoration requires a significant commitment from the landowner or land manager. Riparian corridors on ranches in the Central Valley typically occur on marginal soils without irrigation, and on rocky or steep slopes. These settings are particularly challenging for habitat restoration.
Read more or download the report at: http://ucanr.edu/sites/Jackson_Lab/Project_1/Riparian_Restoration_in_California_Rangelands/