Integrating Meadow and Forest Restoration for Quantifiable Carbon, Water, Wildlife, and Energy Benefits in the Glass Mountains

Integrating Meadow and Forest Restoration for Quantifiable Carbon, Water, Wildlife, and Energy Benefits in the Glass Mountains

Home | Key Initiatives | Integrating Meadow and Forest Restoration for Quantifiable Carbon, Water, Wildlife, and Energy Benefits in the Glass Mountains

Project Goal:

Restore over 300 acres within 7 subalpine meadows and historic Sierra Nevada Yellow Legged Frog habitat in the desert-forest transition zone of the Eastern Sierra.

Identify key characteristics and conditions of stream, riparian, and Aspen corridors within the 88,000 acre Glass Mountain watershed while expanding community learning and workforce opportunities through Tribal apprenticeship and partnership programming.


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Project Stages

Planning

Relationship Building

100% Planning and Design

Implementation

Completion

Post-Restoration Monitoring

Estimated Completion Date:
March 2027

Project Description

Forests, meadows, and streams of the Sierra Nevada are in severe hydrologic and ecological disrepair due to human activities and a changing climate. We are at a critical point in time for restoration of these wild places. The Glass Mountain Meadow Complex is located in the Glass Mountain Range of Mono Basin in the Eastern Sierra and lies in the desert-to-temperate forest transition zone providing critical wildlife refuge through changing climatic regimes. This meadow complex encompasses the headwaters of the Glass Mountains on Nüümü ancestral land and contains a suite of degraded meadows adjacent to dense forest stands severely impacted by the 2021 Dexter Fire. These meadows once contained the region’s largest population of Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frog, as surveyed in 1984, but were last seen in 1993 due to livestock grazing, invasive fish, water diversions, and forest road impacts. Downstream, the River Spring Lakes Ecological Reserve in Adobe Valley provides habitat for the endangered Owens pupfish, waterfowl, reptiles, amphibians, alkali meadows, and transmontane alkali marsh. .

Proposed activities include 88,000 acres of hydrologic assessment to identify key meadow, riparian, Aspen, and stream habitats prioritized for restoration, 100% restoration designs, and SM-WRAMP monitoring for all 7 identified high-priority meadows, and funds for tribal participation, capacity-building, preserving archaeological sites, and honoring cultural traditions. CalTrout is engaged with local Tribes and the Inyo National Forest to provide input on cultural and archaeological areas of significance, meadow restoration, forest health and biomass conversion approaches, and to support Tribal Learning initiatives and cultural studies significant to native peoples in this region.

Selective thinning, Aspen restoration, and hydrologic repair are all integral toward harnessing ecosystem resilience through a holistic, watershed-scale approach. Biomass generated throughout the project is proposed for use in meadow rehabilitation to capture lost carbon, and for carbon conversion supplied to a local renewable energy grid. The carbon, water, energy and biodiversity benefits accrued through restoration will be measured through a system of multi-benefit accounting. This approach connects environmental restoration and energy production, providing a backbone for funding large-scale restoration work and contributing to carbon emissions reduction targets for the State of California.

Project Partners:

California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Inyo National Forest

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