SCH Number 2021050237

Project Info

Title

English Meadow Floodplain Restoration & Enhancement

Description

The Nevada Irrigation District (NID or District) plans to implement floodplain restoration and forest management activities on 380 acres within the headwaters of the Middle Yuba River in Nevada and Sierra Counties, California. Project activities will take place about 1 mile upstream of Jackson Meadows Reservoir, a critical NID storage facility used for recreation, clean hydroelectric power production and water supply for 25,000 agricultural and drinking water customers in Nevada, Placer and Yuba Counties. Consistent with the District's land use objectives, the purpose of this Project is to improve watershed/ floodplain function and resilience of English Meadow and the surrounding forest to achieve the following benefits: • Reduce the transport of bedload and fine sediment from the upper watershed into Jackson Meadows Reservoir (maintain reservoir water storage capacity). • Increase seasonal retention and release of precipitation in the meadow floodplain aquifer. • Enhance habitat for meadow-dependent species. • Improve forest health to reduce wildfire risk through fuels reduction. • Increase snowpack and surface flow through mechanical thinning of the forest community on surrounding slopes. • Reduce conifer encroachment into the meadow.

5 documents in project