 |
Feather River Coordinated
Resource Management Group |
BIG FLAT MEADOW
RESTORATION PROJECT |
| Fact Sheet #6 |
October 1999
|
|
PROJECT LOCATION
The Big Flat Meadow restoration project
was designed to restore a section of Cottonwood Creek, a small stream in
Northeastern Plumas County. Big Flat Meadow is located in the Cottonwood
Creek watershed two and a half miles upstream from the confluence with
Last Chance Creek which drains into Indian Creek, a tributary to the East
Branch North Fork Feather River (EBNFFR). The site is on public land administered
by the Plumas National Forest in Northeastern California near Honey Lake,
approximately 60 miles Northwest of Reno, Nevada and 25 miles South-west
of Susanville, California.
PROJECT AREA HISTORY
Cottonwood Creek once kept Big Flat meadow watered as it flowed through
on its way from the East side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range to join
the Feather River. But the creek has eroded severely over the last 60 years,
cutting down from it's former meadow height into a gullied channel, 15
feet deep in some places. As the creek eroded down through the meadow soil,
it lowered the water table, allowing undesirable dry-site vegetation such
as sagebrush to replace grasses and sedges which need more moisture.
A combination of livestock grazing, fire, and timber harvesting led
to the channel's down cutting and lowering of the water table. The project
area is part of the US Forest Service's Fitch Canyon grazing allotment,
which has been grazed continuously since at least 1910 by cattle, sheep,
and horses. The dark Fire in 1987 burned through 30% of the Cottonwood
Creek watershed, although not through Big Flat Meadow. Harvesting of salvage
timber has been carried out in the watershed since 1988.
These events combined have led to serious impacts on the watershed's
meadows and streams. The lowered water table has led to the domination
of sagebrush near the stream and the drying up of Cottonwood Creek for
a longer period during the summer months.
PROJECT GOALS
The agencies and individuals involved in the Feather River Coordinated
Resource Management group (CRM) worked cooperatively to address the watershed
problems on Cottonwood Creek. They initiated the Big Flat Meadow re-watering
project in order to restore Cottonwood Creek's original channel form into
a stable narrow channel with meanders and a flood plain. The objectives
of the project were to: |
WATERSHED CHARACTERISTICS
Drainage area - 10,919 acres
Annual precipitation - 20 inches average
Altitude - 6,000 feet average
Water volume - approximately 11% of the Last Chance
drainage
Size - fourth largest tributary to Last Chance
Creek
Stream flow - seasonal, drying out between March
and June
Cumulative watershed effects - 98% of the threshold
of concern
Ownership - 4% private
Disturbance - fourth most disturbed of all east
side Feather River watershed creeks |
| * Reduce the amount of sediment produced
or
downstream deposition and improve water quality,
* Restore spawning and rearing habitat for rainbow front by
prolonging summer stream flows,
* Elevate meadow groundwater increasing production of moisture
loving plants, and extending length of the season in which the stream is
flowing, and
* Demonstrate an innovative stream restoration technology which
can be applied to other degraded watersheds.
CRM members hope that successful re-watering of the meadow will lengthen
the season during which the creek flows. Increasing the meadow's water
storage capability should allow stored up winter precipitation to release
more slowly, allowing Cottonwood Creek to flow longer into the summer.
This combined with reducing sediment deposition should improve fish habitat,
increase the amount of moisture loving vegetation in the meadow increasing
forage for wildlife and cattle. |
|
GRAZING HISTORY
1910-1920: unknown number of cattle and sheep
1920-1935: allotment grazed by 75 horses
1935-present: allotment grazed by cattle, from
756 to 2,600 animals per year
1957 to present: grazing between 93% and 200%
of allowable use
Average meadow forage production: down to 905
pounds/acre from 1,500 to 2,500 previously
Grazing season: Mid June to September
Current carrying capacity: 1266 animal unit months
1987: riparian pasture established with planned
use of two weeks per season
1990: changed from seasonal grazing to two pasture
deferred grazing system
SOURCE: USFS grazing allotment environmental assessment
|
|
PROJECT DESIGN
To re-water Big Flat meadow, the CRM designed a project which combines
an innovative technique of stream and meadow restoration with changes in
the grazing system of the Forest Service's grazing allotment. The project
design consists of:
* Abandonment of the creek's old incised gully The channel was filled
in and sections of it were converted into a series of seven ponds to create
wildlife habitat.
* Diversion of the creek into a new 4,050 foot long section of shallow
channel on the meadow floor above. Rock step pools were created in the
steepest sections of the new channel to protect against new head cutting
in the channel.
* Revegetation of project areas made bare by construction using transplants
and reseeding to supplement natural recolonization. Sod removed from the
meadow during construction was transplanted to the edges of the new channel.
* Grazing management changes reducing the allowable grazing use of
the riparian pasture from 2-3 weeks to 2-3 days per year, construction
of three new upland pastures to spread grazing out over the allotment,
and a small reduction in the numbers of cattle allowed to graze during
the season.
The project channel changes were constructed in August 1995. Revegetation
of the project channel will be completed in the spring of 1996.
PROJECT MONITORING
Feather River CRM members designed a monitoring plan to test the effectiveness
of the project at restoring the Big Flat Meadow. Information was collected
on stream and meadow characteristics in 1994 and 1995 to have a baseline
against which to test the projects
future success.
Cottonwood Creek in it's newly constructed channel after
the February 1996 flood. The creek has overflowed the smaller channel and
is watering the meadow.
|
Cottonwood creek as it crossed Big flat Meadow before
the project.
CRM members are tracking changes in the stream's flow, groundwater
level, channel stability and structure, and vegetation.
STREAM FLOW:
Changes in stream flow quantity and duration was begun in May 1994
by PG&E using gages on Cottonwood Creek upstream and downstream of
the project reach.
GROUNDWATER:
Changes in ground water elevation in the meadow was begun in June 1994
by PG&E using wells placed in rows perpendicular to the direction of
stream flow throughout the meadow area.
CHANNEL STABILITY AND STRUCTURE: Channel shape and position will
be recorded one, three, five, and ten years after construction and in any
year with runoff greater than 315 cubic feet per second using seven cross
sectional profiles. Photos will be taken at four photo points every year
during spring runoff through year five, and again at year ten.
|
VEGETATION:
Revegetation success and changes in meadow vegetation will be tracked
to see if vegetation changes as the water table rises in the meadow. Three
300 foot long transects across the meadow will be monitored every three
years for a minimum of 10 years by the U.S. Forest Service.
PRELIMINARY RESULTS
The project performed as expected during its first winter season. Project
designers calculate the greatest risk to the project's long term success
to be the establishment of new head cuts which could erode the new channel
back down to the level of the old channel. The danger of this happening
is the greatest during the first ten years of the project, before newly
planted willows and sod have grown enough to anchor the creek's new banks.
To reduce this risk, rock step pools were installed at the downstream
end of the project to dissipate the energy carried by flood waters. Calculations
of the force of water on the channel showed that rock boulders three feet
in diameter should withstand the scouring forces of a 100 year flood with
a flow of 1200 cubic feet of water per second (CFS), and pro-tect the channel
from new head cuts.
The project was tested when a total of six inches of rain fell on the
watershed in a sixty hour period during a storm in early February 1996.
Water flow in the channel, which was designed to accommodate 40 CFS, was
measured at 164 CFS. Water over-flowed the channel and spread out onto
the meadow floor as desired. There was no erosion of the pro-ject's new
channel and the seven ponds filled up with water as expected. Monitoring
of the project over the next several years will show whether the project
stays in place during bigger storm events.
PROJECT COOPERATORS
The project was accomplished by the cooperation, work and funding of several
agencies and individuals:
| U.S Forest Service, Plumas National Forest |
|
| Construction funding |
$30,000 |
| Design and assessment work |
$5,590 |
| Rock - 350 three foot boulders |
$10,000 |
| Aerial photo/mapping |
$13,000 |
| Fencing |
$10,000 |
| Pacific Gas &Electric Company |
|
| Revegetation funding |
$13,000 |
| Surface and ground-water monitoring |
$25,000 |
| State Water Resources Control Board |
|
| Construction funding (319 funds) |
$70,000 |
| Fitch Canyon Allotment permittee |
|
| Fencing |
$2,000 |
|
Cottonwood Creek as it crossed Big Flat Meadow before
the project
Big Flat meadow after the project. The water has been
diverted to the new channel on the other side of the meadow, and the old
gully has been converted to ponds
| Plumas County Community Development Commission |
|
| Design |
$7,000 |
| Project sponsor |
|
| Plumas Corporation |
|
| Construction coordination |
|
| Total (funds and in-kind contributions) |
$185,590 |
Grazing Management Changes
| |
PRE-PROJECT |
POST PROJECT |
| ALLOWED GRAZING |
317 PAIR FOR 4 MONTHS |
317 PAIR FOR 3 MONTHS & 167 PAIR FOR 1 MONTH |
| RIPARIAN PASTURE USE |
2-3 WEEKS PER YEAR |
2-3 DAYS PER YEAR |
| GRAZING SYSTEM |
TWO PASTURE DEFERRED GRAZING |
5 PASTURE ROTATION WITH 3 MILES NEW FENCE |
|
.
|
REFERENCES
U.S.F.S., 1990. Cumulative Watershed Effect Study of the Last
Chance Creek Watershed. Ken Cawley, Plumas National Forest, Quincy, California.
U.S.F.S., March 1993, Environmental Assessment, Fitch Canyon
Allotment. Milford Ranger District, Plumas National Forest, Milford, California.
U.S.F.S., March 30, 1993. Decision Notice and Finding of No
Significant Impact, Fitch Canyon Allotment. JeffWithroe, District Ranger,
Milford Ranger
District, Plumas National Forest, Milford, California.
Plumas Corporation, 1992. East Branch North Fork Feather River,
Spanish and Last Chance Creek Non-point Source Water Pollution Study. Section
205 (j) Clean Water Act. Funding by the California Water Resources Control
Board, Sponsored by the Plumas County Community Development Commission,
Quincy, California.
Feather River Coordinated Resources Management group, March
1993. Big Flat Restoration Project Risk Assessment. Jim Wilcox, Plumas
Corporation - project designer. Terry Benoit, Plumas National Forest hydrologist,
Quincy, California. |
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Plumas Corporation P.O. Box 3880 Quincy,CA 95971 (530) 283-3739
Fact sheet series produced by the University of California Cooperative
Extension with funding by the
California Biodiversity Council. October 1999
Project Director: Michael De Lasaux, Natural Resources Advisor Educational
Outreach Coordinator:
Susie Kocher, Program Representative
|
University of California Cooperative Extension
Plumas-Sierra Counties 208 Fairgrounds Road Quincy,CA 95971
(530) 283-6270
|
|
