Stream Restoration
Riparian ecosystems occur where water meets land, such as the banks of a river or wetlands associated with springs. Riparian habitats provide cover, shade, food, breeding areas, nesting areas, and more for sage-grouse and a multitude of other wildlife species. Healthy riparian areas improve water quality, reduce erosion, and attract beneficial insects for sage-grouse. Seasonal drying and senescence of herbaceous vegetation (July-August) cause female sage-grouse to move their broods from breeding areas to more productive summer habitats, wet meadows, and riparian systems. Riparian systems provide sage-grouse with critical habitat and cover during the hottest months of the year and provide vital forage prior to the winter season.
Implementing low-tech, process-based restoration techniques such as Beaver Dam Analog structures and Zeedyk rock structures help to restore riparian areas by elevating stream beds, decreasing erosion, and stabilizing headcuts. These structures help initiate restoration of natural processes that self-sustain healthy riparian habitats.
In October 2020, the Working Group constructed nine Zeedyk rock structures in an ephemeral stream in the Susanville Ranch Park as part of a meadow restoration project. This project not only improves the meadow function for the local community, but also acts as a demonstration site. Unlike almost all our other project locations, it is easily accessible for demonstrating the efficacy of these methods in the future. More stream restoration structures will be installed within the ephemeral stream and adjacent perennial stream in 2023.
In September 2020, a 3-person crew from the Great Basin Institute (GBI) installed Zeedyk structures in a stream and surrounding meadow affected by the 2019 Ranch Fire. BLM staff and the Buffalo-Skedaddle Working Group Coordinator led the crew in constructing 37 rock structures: 24 one rock dams, 5 rock rundowns, 5 Zuni bowls, 2 baffles, and 1 Media Luna. These structures helped catch sediment and slow erosion of the denuded soils surrounding the incised creek. Maintenance to existing structures and additional structures were built in May 2023 by an AmeriCorps crew.
In August and September 2022, eight beaver dam analog structures (BDA) were constructed over four workdays at Lower Cottonwood Meadow. The BDAs helped re-hydrate the southeast portion of Cottonwood meadow that had dried out earlier in the season due to drought and stream channelization. The Honey Lake Valley Resource Conservation District, Great Basin Institute crews, Bureau of Land Management staff, and the Buffalo-Skedaddle Working Group Coordinator all helped with the construction of these stream restoration structures.
