Meadow Creek Restoration Effectiveness Monitoring

This project supported both short-term and long-term (> 10 years) monitoring of riparian vegetation (post stream restoration) of a ~ 11 km stretch of Meadow Creek within the Starkey Experimental Forest (SEFR). Data collected with this monitoring effort allowed us to (1) evaluate the separate and combined effects of cattle, elk and deer on growth, survival, and flowering of established riparian plantings; (2) complete monitoring of established planting responses (growth, survival, flowering) over high (~5.6-6.8 per km2; 2017-2019) and low elk densities (~ 0.75 – 1.0 per km2; 2021-2023), and compare planting height growth between low and high elk densities; (3) monitor grazing compliance metrics across four ungulate treatments (1. Cattle; 2. elk and deer; 3. Cattle, elk and deer; and 4. No ungulates) -including 3 years of pre-cattle grazing, and seven years of grazing thus far- that will allow for comparisons of compliance metrics between low-and-high density elk time periods and evaluation of grazing compliance metrics with long-term trends in riparian vegetation dynamics; (4) completed sampling of greenline vascular plant composition and woody vegetation cover, composition, and height distribution in 2021 and 2022; this data will be used to evaluate seven years of vegetation change across four ungulate treatments, along Meadow Creek, 7 and 8 years post restoration respectively; (4) and determine impacts of the separate and combined effects of cattle, and elk and deer on stream and greenline bryophyte (moss and liverworts; an overlooked riparian vegetation that is important aquatic invertebrate habitat in the Meadow Creek watershed) abundance across ungulate treatments.
Because the projects scheduled end date is after the PCSRF FFY 2019 award closes, no funds allocated for this project are reported as match to PCSRF funds.

A major benefit from effectiveness monitoring of this long-term restoration experiment is a well-documented set of cattle grazing practices and associated management tools of direct relevance to management of millions of acres of public range allotments where cattle grazing is a dominant land use and where salmonid recovery is a primary goal and riparian restoration is urgently needed. This set of grazing practices include those found to be effective on a practical scale in maintaining cattle use in upland areas and away from riparian areas to support salmonid restoration Results will be summarized annually for use by range and fisheries managers and the diverse set of stakeholders involved in grazing management.

In addition, research results will indicate what level of return a rancher (and salmon recovery) would receive from active strategies to maintain cattle in uplands through active herding and use of upland water and nutritional supplements. There will be economic analyses of the cost effectiveness of these practices and in relation to compliance with standards for greenline stubble height and streambank alternation. These results can be compared with the economic return of simply establishing exclusion fencing of the riparian area and the time required by range riders to monitor the exclusion fencing for breaches, which typically occur weekly throughout the grazing season, owing to both wild and domestic ungulate breaches, resulting in considerable effort to monitor and repair fences and herd trespass cows out of riparian areas. All of this information will be extremely useful for planning salmonid restoration projects on both public and private lands in making decisions on what approach grazing management (more intensive herd management vs. riparian exclusion) is more effective and cost-efficient.