Upper Stony Creek Watershed Restoration

Location:

California (within Mendocino
National Forest)

Case Description

The Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has established a technical oversight group of other government agencies to assist in its efforts to change ranching practices on private lands in the Upper Stony Creek Watershed, located in and around Mendocino National Forest in Northern California. The Project, which is largely funded through PL 566 Small Watershed Project Program, works with local private landowners to promote changes to range land management to improve soil, water, and habitat quality in the watershed. About 30 local ranchers, who own about half of the private land in the watershed, have signed long-term contracts with NRCS to follow specific management practices on their land to protect environmental resources.

 

A Network of Partners and Projects

 

An important part of the group’s success in restoring groundwater recharge and riparian habitat in the area has been the “cooperation from not only the landowners, but also the agency people that are involved in that part of the county,” notes Wendell Gilgert, the project’s former coordinator. The group has stretched its limited resources by relying on outside agency personnel for specialized expertise. For instance, the project has “borrowed” staff time of a local Forest Service archaeologist to conduct required cultural resource assessments on project sites. Local Forest Service personnel and the California State Department of Forestry and Fire Protection handle the group’s prescribed burns. A local staff member from the Department of Fish and Game participates in the group’s wildlife protection projects, such as fencing riparian corridors and ponds.

 

In addition, the group uses local University of California Cooperative Extension Farm Advisors to teach a watershed education program for local landowners. (The education is funded through a $500,000 grant from PL 566 Small Watershed Project Program.) Using the farm advisors to run the education effort builds on existing networks in the county. In the Upper Stony Creek area, the extension agent involved in the effort has been working in the county for over 30 years and has “a lot of trust” from the ranchers, which has improved the effectiveness of the education program.

 

The local NRCS office has also formed a partnership with the State Wildlife Conservation Board and the California Waterfowl Association to protect sensitive areas from the impacts of cattle grazing by fencing riparian areas and livestock ponds and providing drinking troughs to keep cattle out of the ponds and streams. The State Wildlife Conservation Board typically buys land for wildlife refuges that it transfers to the State Department of Fish and Game. Such actions have generated local opposition because they take land off the county tax rolls and because the Department of Fish and Game does not have adequate resources to deal with trespassing, fire threats, and other problems that arise on its land holdings. To address these concerns, Gilgert and his staff helped the State Wildlife Conservation Board acquire conservation easements on ranches that allow the ranches to continue their operations. According to Gilgert, the Wildlife Conservation Board is able to achieve its goals of protecting important riparian habitats by funding restoration efforts in riparian areas, funding fencing projects, and buying easements for far less money than it would cost to buy the land outright.

In addition to engaging in partnerships to protect and enhance riparian areas, NRCS has also begun to form partnerships with organizations like the Audubon Society to conduct scientific studies in areas where they direct their management and restoration efforts. According to Dennis Nay, the program’s current Range Specialist, one study done with the Audubon Society compared the program’s grazing strategies with more traditional range management strategies in order to assess their relative impacts on migratory birds. This study found that the program’s strategies had a positive influence on the population and diversity of migratory birds. These studies have helped the program to better understand its impacts and realize some of its accomplishments. Nay noted that, “being able to show some of the positive results from a change in management got people really excited.”

 

 

This site was developed by the Ecosystem Management Initiative through a partnership with the US Forest Service and the US Department of Interior. Read more.