Project

What?

The Loggy Meadow restoration project is a joint effort between WildPlaces and the U.S. Forest Service to restore the meadow’s hydrology and ecology to a healthy state. The U.S. Forest Service has fenced off the meadow stream and secured hay bales to the stream banks to slow erosion. Volunteers from WildPlaces’ Immersed in the Wild program have planted hundreds of willows in an effort to anchor the hay bales and stabilize stream banks that have been eroded by unsustainable cattle grazing practices.

Why?

Loggy Meadow has been used for cattle grazing for several generations and many of the grazing techniques used have proved to be unsustainable in the long term. Cattle trampled the riparian vegetation along the stream, allowing the soil to erode quickly.

The Consequences:

• The meadow’s water table dropped causing it to dry out.
• It would grow less grass
• Lodgepole pines began to encroach in on the meadow
• The plant and animal communities would eventually have changed as the meadow dried out.

Who?

This restoration project was begun by the U.S. Forest Service and continued by participants in WildPlaces’ Immersed in the Wild program during the summers of 2007 and 2008. Students from the Dolores Huerta Program have participated since 2007 and will continue in the future.

Where?

Loggy Meadow is on Fish Creek in the Giant Sequoia National Monument and drains into the Little Kern River in the Golden Trout Wilderness. It is located at around 7500′ elevation.