To get vegetation growing on the hard-packed site, volunteers spread wood straw as a mulch layer and dug up and loosened the soil to de-compact it at a fall, 2012 workday (photo below).
By 2013 grasses, forbs, and willows were thriving. The photo at right is a good “AFTER” picture. In recent years, once-tiny willow shoots grew dramatically, adding to the meadow’s habitat value, even in the dry season.
Storm-caused erosion in 2011 (shown in the photo at left) threatened to wipe out previous restoration work. But re-shaping of the streambanks and the careful laying of rockwork helped with some initial recovery. Further erosion over the next winter led to the need for additional streambank contouring and stabilization work in 2012 (photo below).
