The Center for Watershed Sciences is partnering with The Nature Conservancy in an experimental floodplain restoration on the Cosumnes River. The Center's role in this Department of Fish & Wildlife funded project, "Wildlife And Vegetation Response to Experimental Restoration of Flooded Riparian Forest Habitat for the Cosumnes River Preserve," is intended to conduct biophysical monitoring of an experimental restoration on approximately 800 acres of flooded riparian forest habitat in the Cosumnes River Preserve.
The riparian and floodplain restoration is expected to benefit native fish and wildlife, using natural process restoration techniques where possible and horticultural restoration carried out in an experimental context. This will be one of the first projects to monitor changes in Bay-Delta ecosystem processes resulting from floodplain reconnection.
The project area has been identified as one of the primary locations where riparian restoration can be conducted successfully in the lower Cosumnes River Corridor.
The Cosumnes Research Group 3 (CRG3) began in the Fall of 2011 to monitor and measure the impact of the planned restoration at the Oneto and Denier Properties along the lower Cosumnes River. The group is currently working on collecting baseline data that will be used to compare with the restored landscape in the following areas:
- Groundwater
- Surface Water
- Aquatic Ecology
- Water Quality
- Soil Carbon
- Geomorphology
- Hydrochory