Yosemite Meadow Undergoing Major Restoration

The largest mid-elevation meadow in Yosemite National Park is undergoing an $18 million restoration project, reports Kurtis Alexander in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Ackerson Meadow was recently acquired from private owners by the National Park Service. “The nonprofit Trust for Public Land bought the property for $2.3 million, with funding assistance from the Yosemite Conservancy, National Park Trust and American Rivers, and donated it to the park service.” After decades as rangeland, the meadow will now be transformed into “a vibrant hub of wildflowers, songbirds and water-loving grasses — an effort billed as the biggest restoration project in Yosemite history.”

Crews are rebuilding the meadow’s wetlands to help the site hold more water for native plants and wildlife. A 3-mile-long gully that was rapidly eroding, a major problem in the meadow, was filled in with soil and native plants. “At 14 feet deep and 100 feet wide, the gully was siphoning water from the area, denying the meadow of its natural ability to absorb and store runoff from rain and snow. The result was a lower water table, dehydrated and dying vegetation and loss of critical wildlife habitat.”

According to Alexander, “The work being celebrated this week is the first of two phases of the project, with other parts of the meadow scheduled for rehabilitation later this year and early next.”