BLM Restoration Field Trip with SEA

BLM Restoration Field Trip with SEA

Saturday, July 1, 8:00 am

Email david@ecoshasta.org to sign up

Shasta Environmental Alliance (SEA) will be sponsoring a field trip led by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ecologist Brooke Thompson at a 426-acre property on the Sacramento River near Battle Creek. This will be more of a driving and walking lecture than a hike as Brooke will explain how the BLM plan to restore this riparian area. This will be an exciting and rare opportunity to see the “before” picture of a long-term restoration project with an explanation of all of the issues involved and the sensitive species that will be helped. The area is on the east side of the Sacramento River. To sign up and for meeting information contact David Ledger at david@ecoshasta.org. See below for an excellent description of the project.

The Bureau of Land Management Redding Field Office acquired the 426-acre Rancho Breisgau Unit adjacent to Battle Creek and the Sacramento River in 2011 to restore the area to a riparian oak woodland. This project is part of a landscape initiative to restore the Battle Creek watershed due to its critical importance for threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead runs (notably Endangered winter-run Chinook), the Western Monarch, the Threatened Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and the Threatened Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle. 

This BLM property has been heavily degraded and fragmented for over a century due to intensive agriculture. Landscape conversions over such a long period have resulted in fallow fields dominated by non-native, invasive species. Currently, a stark 10% of Valley riparian forests in California remains due to decades of decline from agriculture, urbanization, and altered hydrology. It is critical that the BLM seeks out riparian restoration projects on large pieces of contiguous land so these ecosystems can be conserved for the enjoyment and benefit of current and future generations.

This project is to implement the Rancho Breisgau riparian restoration on approximately 130 acres. Site preparation will include the removal of walnut orchards and the manual and chemical treatment of non-native, invasive species. Currently, the site is 100% dominated by a monoculture of Cal-IPC-listed invasive species growing to the maximum extent of their phenology. Intensive treatment of invasive species, including mechanical and chemical treatments, will be critical prior to planting and will also remove a major source of weed seed from BLM-administered land. After initial site preparation native trees, shrubs, grasses, and forbs will be planted and irrigated until they are self-sustaining around 3 years. This important step of riparian restoration is critical to the success of these projects and will drastically improve the success of the restoration. Restoration in valley ecosystems is among the most important work we can do to conserve sensitive species’ habitats, protect threatened ecosystem types, and fight the climate crisis.