Cold Stream Meadow Road Decommissioning and Restoration Project

Project Description:

When complete, the Cold Stream Meadow Road Decommissioning and Restoration will make unavailable roughly five miles of former logging roads to motorized vehicle trespass on Truckee Donner Land Trust land, and mitigate erosion impacts to Cold Stream Meadow, a key headwater meadow in the Little Truckee Basin.

Specific project goals and measurable outcomes and how you will measure and report them.

• Decommission for motorized use all roads in the Cold Stream drainage south of the bridge at the foot of Cold Stream Meadow.
• Remove the broken bridge over Cold Stream.
• Remove culverts in abandoned roadways.
• Reconnect drainages and re-contour slopes where feasible.
• De-compact road surfaces where necessary.

Decommissioning the roads, removing the bridge, and removing culverts are all goals that are easily measured.  It will not be possible to re-contour all slopes, connect all drainages and de-compact all road surfaces; these goals will be deemed complete when the U.S. Forest Service advises that road impacts to the meadow are minimized.

TMWA Benefit:

The project meets multiple grant priorities including Priorities II and IV: Minimizing erosion, improving source water quality, and encouraging future growth of vegetation in areas disturbed by past logging by reconnecting drainages, re-contouring slopes, de-compacting soil, and discouraging future compaction and erosion.  In addition, the project advances grant priority VI, Stewardship and Environmental Awareness, with a volunteer component that will include work de-compacting road surfaces as well as a discussion on why properly-functioning headwater meadows are key to water quality and quantity in the Sierra.