Van Norden Meadow (Yayalu Itdeh in Washoe) is an important Sierra meadow at the headwaters of the South Yuba River. It provides valuable habitat for a wide variety of mammals, birds, amphibians, insects, and plants. However, this habitat and the hydrologic function of the meadow were degraded by anthropogenic modifications over the past 200 years. Drainage hydrology has been interrupted by roads and train tracks, and flow inputs to the meadow have been redirected, concentrated, and culverted in many cases. The South Yuba River channel that ran through the meadow was highly incised due to these hydrologic modifications, grazing, and other watershed development. Our team (as cbec eco engineering, a Verdantas Company) was requested, by the South Yuba River Citizens League, to lead this project to restore hydrologic function and the associated habitat benefits to the 485-acre Van Norden Meadow.

Van Norden Meadow has a diverse stakeholder group and project considerations that required a specialized approach. Efforts on this project included: field reconnaissance; conceptual design alternatives development; alternatives analysis with stakeholders; scour evaluation; orchestration and planning of the installation of a new 120’ clear-span bridge; and development of construction drawings with special consideration for access, cultural and political issues, and agency input. We developed a project that focused primarily on restoring the hydrologic function of the meadow and reservoir areas after the Van Norden Dam was lowered by approximately 5 feet. Process-based techniques (beaver dam analogues) were installed in Castle Creek to help reverse channel incision. Our team performed construction observation during the 2022 Phase 1 implementation. A second phase of construction is scheduled to help rehabilitate Lytton Creek by redistributing channelized flows to the west over their historical floodplain. Stakeholders include the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Tahoe National Forest, Sugar Bowl, POWDR Corporation, and Truckee Donner Land Trust.