Saving the Sierra Snowpack through
Mountain Meadow Restoration
Jim Wilcox
January 6, 2012

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State Theater
985 Lincoln Way
Auburn, CA 95603
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Buzzard Springs, partial source of the North Fork Feather River. Lassen Peak in the background.Aside from sheer beauty, the Sierra Nevada mountain meadows may offer a major solution to managing California's challenging water issues.

Mountain meadows store water, acting as natural reservoirs that hold back floodwaters. By slowing the heavy spring flows and releasing them gradually over the dry summer months, healthy watersheds can increase the quantity (and quality) of water available downstream.

Unfortunately, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation estimates that half of the Sierra meadows are not providing the benefits they should.

Mountain meadows have been altered by grazing, mining, logging, fire suppression, water uses (e.g. dams) and invasive species. Jim Wilcox, a former logger, has been working since the mid 1980's to help restore the meadows within the upper Feather River basin which encompasses 3,200 square miles from the Sierra Crest to Oroville.

Jjim Wilcox
Jim Wilcox in the Feather River water-shed. Photo by Jane Braxton Little

As program manager for the Feather River Coordinated Resource Management group, he works with ranchers, timber owners, anglers, and federal and state agency officials — anyone who shares an interest in improving the land and the water that cascades down to the Sacramento Valley and the delta that empties into San Francisco Bay.

At a time when climate change is putting unprecedented pressure on water supplies with heavier winter rain and less snowpack, these mountain meadows may be a first step in preserving both the environment and the economy.

In California, where agriculture is the economic mainstay, the impacts of climate change could be devastating. The Sierra Nevada snowpack supplies two-thirds of the state’s water needs. The Sierra’s 22 major river systems nourish farms and orchards in California’s Central Valley, which produces 8 percent of the nation’s crops. Now, as climate change is altering historic snowfall patterns, land managers are turning to mountain meadows to help reduce the effects of a warming planet. Changing climate patterns, fire and human activities are putting increasing pressure on this critical ecosystem.

Aside from supplying people with water, California’s Sierra Nevada Ecosystem is home to ~570 vertebrate wildlife species: 290 birds, 135 mammals, 46 reptiles, 37 amphibians, and 60 fish. Of these, 80 birds, 40 mammals, 10 reptiles, 20 amphibians, and 30 fish are on California’s Special Animals List. Twenty-six are endemic to the Sierra Nevada.

Restoring the Sierra Nevada mountain meadows helps revitalize the watershed and wildlife, and it also helps sustain the downstream farms, ranches, towns, and cities that depend on the alpine water. Join Jim Wilcox on Friday January 6th to take a closer looks at this restoration process and the hope it holds for our future.

Doors open at 7pm, presentation starts at 7:30pm. 
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About Jim Wilcox

Jim Wilcox
Jim Wilcox ( Photo from the
Environmental Law Institute's 2010
National Wetlands Awards)

Mr. Jim Wilcox is the Senior Project and Program Manager at Plumas Corporation for the Feather River Coordinated Resource Management group.

He has designed and completed more than 40 successful projects that restored 48 miles of stream channels and riparian habitats, and pioneered the use of the pond-and-plug technique in northeastern California, successfully restoring 3,400 acres of meadow floodplains and wetlands, most of which lie in the Feather River watershed along the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Many organizations and individuals seek his input and guidance on restoration projects, as he has repeatedly gone out of his way to assist other organizations and share his expertise and experience. In working to restore the Big Meadows in Sequoia National Forest, Mr. Wilcox drove eight hours to visit the project after a flood event. He spent several weeks writing up a technical paper about the project’s response to share with the projects partners, all of which was voluntary and outside of the project requirements.

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