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ANEP's Habitat Loss Technology Transfer Database Innovative Characterization and Management Approaches Across the NEP Experience |
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Morro BayInnovative-Interagency Cooperation to Establish a Sediment Trapping Floodplain and Restore Riparian and Freshwater Wetlands Habitats
Category: Upland Cost: $2.0 million Description: Chorro Creek is the principal stream in the Morro Bay watershed. The creek at its lower reaches was contained in levees to create larger areas for row crop cultivation. Sedimentation is a major stressor on the estuary. Therefore, the California Coastal Conservancy and the Coastal San Luis Resource Conservation District, with the support of the MBNEP and others, purchased a farm and designed and implemented a sediment trapping system. The levees were breached and a new channel created mimicking the natural channel configurations. The stream banks overflow during winter storms depositing large amounts of sediment upstream of the estuary in this newly created floodplain. With revegetation work, the area has grown a large willow forest and pockets of freshwater wetlands have been created, both by design and through natural processes. Outcome: In just a few winters, hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of sediment have been trapped and an extensive riparian forest has overtaken what were recently cultivated fields; freshwater wetlands have also been established. This is a model for other sediment trapping/restoration projects in the watershed. Contact: Michael Multari, 805-772-3834, mmultari@mbnep.org Citation: Information not provided. |