By Nicole Dart:
11/15/19- Restoration Ecology’s final field trip of the 2019 Fall semester took us on an exciting adventure in the redwoods of Marin County, exploring different restoration projects at Lagunitas Creek, all working towards restoring habitat for salmonid fish. Our first stop of the day was at the Leo T. Cronin fish viewing area, where we met with our hosts for the day: Sarah Phillips of the Marin Resource Conservation Department, Erik Young from Trout Unlimited, and Teddy Hanford, a project estimator from Hanford Applied Restoration and Conservation. We all gave a brief introduction of ourselves and were taught about the history of Lagunitas Creek, as well as the endangered salmonids that are native to it.
Restoration Site #1
Next, we headed to our first site of the day, where we met with Preston Brown, a watershed biologist for the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) and the Conservation Director for the Turtle Island Restoration Network. Here we learned about the importance of installing woody debris, which slows the movement of water and creates a variety of habitat for salmon. Teddy Hanford described the construction of the site as “open heart surgery” as the process involved bringing in excavators to restore the floodplain, removing several abandoned structures, strategically placing woody debris and living willows, and installing biodegradable bank stabilization fabric.
Restoration Site #2
Next, we drove a few minutes down the road and visited the Turtle Island office, where we explored another restoration site that was completed about a year ago. The site also has its own native plant nursery with numerous different native plant species, which local volunteers help transplant every week. Preston showed us a few before and after pictures of the site which helped us see the alterations that were made and the growth that was made since the construction of the site was completed. After around three years of adaptive managing, they step back from “babysitting” the site and let nature do its thing.
Restoration Site #3
Our final stop for the day was at Devil’s Gulch, where we took a lunch break and met with Eric Ettlinger, an aquatic biologist with the Marin Municipal Water District. After a Q&A session, we were given a tour of the restoration that was completed about four or five years ago. Eric Young led us down a path along the stream, having us guess whether a pile of woody debris was man-made or naturally formed. The large woody debris that they installed during their project was either anchored down with bolts, epoxy, cables, or threaded rebar, giving the wood a “Frankenstein” appearance, as Eric had called it. The large woody debris provides many different benefits for the stream and the salmonids living in it. As it slows down the flow of the water, it reduces erosion and provides shelter and a pool area for salmon to use as habitat. To end the day, we put our knowledge to the test and created our very own design plans on a map of a river, deciding where to install woody debris based on the surroundings and anatomy of the river.
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