A large portion of our work involves meadow and stream restoration in California’s Sierra Nevada, primarily in Tuolumne County. Working with hydrologists and biologists, we design and implement restoration plans on public lands. Our experience has informed the development of specialized strategies to successfully restore meadows, wetlands, rivers, and streams while carefully managing the impact of working in these sensitive areas. These include the use of invasive-free fill material, water quality control measures, meadow mats to reduce ground disturbance, careful removal and storage of intact in-channel vegetation, rock-lining channel bottoms, and installation of latitudinal boulder stabilizers. We also install wildlife guzzlers and restore erosive Forest Service routes by removing damaged culverts and sub-soiling for increased permeability. Over the last fifteen years, we have restored fourteen meadows as well as numerous streams, and have placed over 12,000 boulders on the Stanislaus National Forest to protect sensitive habitat. We have also restored land in Yosemite National Park and Yosemite Valley.
Some of our projects include: Merced River floodplain in Yosemite Valley, Funks Meadow, Burt Reed Meadow, Thompson Meadow, Middle Three Meadows, Upper Three Meadows, Wolfin Meadow, Shell Meadow, Bloomer Meadow, Wet Springs Meadow, Reynolds Meadow, Groundhog Meadow, Bluff Meadow, Meadow 1751, Rackerby Jack Meadow, and numerous stream and drainage projects in the Stanislaus National Forest.
Below are samples of our work from the 2019 Hammill Canyon project on the Stanislaus National Forest. The following pairs are permanent photo points. All photo points are included in the Hammill Project PDF below. Implementation photos from multiple meadow and road projects are below the photo points.