With $3.9 million in support from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wetlands and Watershed Restoration Program, the South Yuba River Citizens League together with the Washoe Tribe and project partners are restoring 485 acres of the high-elevation meadow habitat in Placer and Nevada Counties. Project partners include the Tahoe National Forest/U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Wildlife Conservation Board, Truckee Donner Land Trust, UC Davis Center for the Watershed Sciences, Point Blue Conservation Science, University of Nevada Reno, and Nevada County.
Van Norden Meadow, known by the Washoe Tribe as “Yayalu Ipbeh”, is one of the largest sub-alpine meadows in the Sierras. Situated at the intersection of three streams on Donner Summit and the headwaters of the South Yuba River, the meadow lies within a valley home to a rich history, including use by Tribes as a meeting area and a place of trade. Van Norden meadow was an ecological hotspot of rich diversity for millions of years, where plants and animals flourished. In just a few decades, the entire system was significantly degraded because of road and dam construction, overgrazing, water storage, development, recreation and catastrophic wildfire, and an increased rate of snowmelt runoff downstream, desiccating the meadow.
Van Norden Meadow was saved from development in 2012, when the Truckee Donner Land Trust acquired it through a community-led conservation effort. In 2017, the meadow was transferred to the Tahoe National Forest who started to work with the South Yuba River Citizens League on restoration plans to rebuild its natural function.
The project began Phase I implementation in 2022, reconnecting eroded stream channels within the South Yuba River, Lytton, and Castle creeks with their surrounding meadow floodplain. Other improvements, such as adding fill to 2.8 miles of the deeply eroded South Yuba stream channel, optimizing hydrologic connectivity, and removing invasive species and encroaching conifers is providing the meadow with the chance to regenerate.
“Restoring a meadow as large as Van Norden Meadow will produce benefits at a noteworthy scale.” said Alecia Weisman, project manager with the South Yuba River Citizens League. “Through a combination of community and tribal-led efforts, we work with diverse partners to develop plans to restore the meadow. We are especially thankful for the support and involvement of the Washoe Tribe who worked with our team through the design process and project implementation.”
The project is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 34,000 metric tons in carbon dioxide equivalents, while simultaneously supporting wildlife, bolstering ecosystem, climate, and community resiliency, and improving community access to natural resources, ultimately enhancing the socioeconomic benefits that the cultural and natural history of Van Norden Meadow have to offer.