CalTrout was recently granted funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) for our Sierra Nevada Meadow Restoration Program which aims to replenish the health and biodiversity of mountain meadow regions. The NFWF grant adds $62,000 to the $253,000 grant awarded by California Department of Fish and Wildlife and approximately $100,000 in-kind match from project partners for a total project budget of $397,000.
While California Trout has done extensive work on mountain meadows in the Sierra Nevada region, this project is the first time CalTrout is working in the Modoc Plateau in the Northeast corner of California. CalTrout’s Mount Shasta-Klamath office will be leading the Modoc Meadows Assessment and Restoration Design Project, bringing together a diverse group of partners to assess 30-50 meadows in the Upper Pit watershed, prioritize the meadows according to restoration need, and prepare for restoration activities on three priority meadows.
Mountain meadows are in a state of degradation in the Upper Pit River Watershed as a result of land management practices including channelization, grazing and surface and groundwater diversions for agriculture.
While significant meadow restoration work has been carried out on private lands, work on Federal lands (which comprise 60% of the watershed) has lagged due to lack of agency capacity. The project aims to improve hydrologic and habitat functions of meadows in the Upper Pit River watershed and further landscape-scale meadow restoration on the Modoc Plateau by working on both private and federally owned lands.
Partners for this project include:
California Department of Water Resources
Modoc National Forest
Bureau of Land Management
Todd Sloat Biological Consulting
National Fish and Wildlife Service Partners Program
California Waterfowl Association
Modoc Resource Conservation District
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Peter Moyle is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and Associate Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, at UC Davis. He is author or co-author of more than 240 publications, including the definitive Inland Fishes of California (2002). He is co-author of the 2017 book, Floodplains: Processes and Management for Ecosystem Services. His research interests include conservation of aquatic species, habitats, and ecosystems, including salmon; ecology of fishes of the San Francisco Estuary; ecology of California stream fishes; impact of introduced aquatic organisms; and use of floodplains by fish.
Robert Lusardi is the California Trout/UC Davis Wild and Coldwater Fish Researcher focused on establishing the basis for long-term science specific to California Trout’s wild and coldwater fish initiatives. His work bridges the widening gap between academic science and applied conservation policy, ensuring that rapidly developing science informs conservation projects throughout California. Dr. Lusardi resides at the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences and works closely with Dr. Peter Moyle on numerous projects to help inform California Trout conservation policy. His recent research interests include Coho salmon on the Shasta River, the ecology of volcanic spring-fed rivers, inland trout conservation and management, and policy implications of trap and haul programs for anadromous fishes in California.
Patrick Samuel is the Conservation Program Coordinator for California Trout, a position he has held for almost two years, where he coordinates special research projects for California Trout, including the State of the Salmonids report. Prior to joining CalTrout, he worked with the Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum, a non-profit that supports the eight federal regional fishery management councils around the country. Patrick got his start in fisheries as an undergraduate intern with NOAA Fisheries Protected Resources Division in Sacramento, and in his first field job as a crew member of the California Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Wild and Heritage Trout Program.