Restoration of English Meadow is proceeding; the Nevada Irrigation District (NID) is now accepting bids by contractors for floodplain restoration and forest management work.

This restoration project will begin later this year on 380 acres within the headwaters of the Middle Fork of the Yuba River. This project is the culmination of nearly five years of field studies, site assessments, planning and partnership development to achieve the restoration of this key meadow community within the patchwork of Sierran meadows found in this region.

English Meadow is located about 1 mile upstream of Jackson Meadows Reservoir, which is one of NID’s largest water storage reservoirs.

The goal of the project is to restore and maintain healthy, fire-resilient watershed lands while protecting water supply and quality. The project will expand the fire fuels reduction and forest thinning efforts that have been initiated by NID throughout Nevada County.

“In-stream restoration work will be performed in concert with a fire fuels reduction project. Both projects are part of a restoration plan and wildfire resilience program and aim to improve hydrology and forest health in this key watershed,” said Neysa King, NID Environmental Resources Administrator.

The work will focus on reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire via treatment of overcrowded timber stands, thinning the forest, and reconnecting the stream channel to the meadow floodplain and underlying aquifer.

This is a cooperative project and NID has received a grant from the Wildlife Conservation Board to support expansion of its Forest Conservation Program, which includes the treatment of the specified area in this request for bid. Project partners include Plumas Corporation (Quincy, Ca.), Under the Trees (Nevada City, Ca.), the USFS and Tahoe National Forest, and Sacramento State University researchers.

As background, NID owns and manages about 10,000 acres in Nevada, Placer and Yuba counties. English Meadow is part of the Sierra Nevada headwaters and is integral to watershed health and the natural water supply infrastructure that the District manages for communities in Nevada, Placer and Yuba counties.

For more information about the Request for Bids (RFB), click here.

For details about the English Meadow Restoration Project, click here.