Utah Low-Tech Wet Meadow Restoration: Virtual Workshop

Thank you for attending this virtual workshop! If you missed this live event, please see all of the recorded modules below.

Wet or mesic meadows are rare but disproportionately important ecosystems in Utah. Gully erosion and channel incision are widespread problems reducing natural resiliency and water storage capacity, which is impacting wildlife and working lands. Simple, low-tech restoration methods developed for dry lands of the desert southwest by Bill Zeedyk provide effective tools for protecting and restoring meadow systems. These techniques are cost-effective and hand-built allowing more people to participate in restoration. 

In this one-day virtual workshop, Utah land managers and partners will be introduced to: reading the landscape to recognize meadow conservation opportunities, various low-tech “Zeedyk” structures (e.g., One Rock Dams, Zuni Bowls), project planning, implementation, and monitoring. Regional instructors will share tips and lessons learned from implementing low-tech meadow restoration projects across the West, while Utah conservation partners will discuss local opportunities and considerations.

Module 1 - Background & Purpose: Why do this?

Module 2 - Inventory: Reading the landscape to recognize opportunities

Module 4 - Planning: Where should we work?

 

Module 5 - Monitoring and Maintenance: Now what?

 

Instructors/Hosts:

  • Shawn Conner, Restoration Specialist, BIO-Logic, Inc., Montrose, CO

  • Jeremy Maestas, Ecologist, USDA-NRCS West National Technology Support Center, Bend, OR

  • Mandi Hirsch, Sagebrush Collaborative Conservation Specialist, IWJV, Kinnear, WY

  • Matt Phillippi, State Biologist, USDA-NRCS, Salt Lake City, UT

  • Clint Wirick, Utah State Coordinator, USFWS Partners for Fish and Wildlife, Richfield, UT

  • Eric Thacker, Extension Range Management Specialist, Utah State University, Logan, UT

  • Dana Truman, Assistant Field Office Manager, BLM, Price, UT

  • Dan Fletcher, Assistant Field Office Manager, BLM, Cedar City, UT 

  • Cassie Mellon, Aquatic Resources Program Lead, BLM, Salt Lake City, UT 

  • Jim Spencer, Area Biologist, USDA-NRCS, Roosevelt, UT

  • Stan Gurley, Farm Bill Wildlife Biologist, UDWR/NRCS, Cedar City, UT

  • Danny Summers, Assistant Habitat Section Chief, UDWR, Ephraim, UT

  • T.J. Cook, Restoration Biologist, UDWR, Price, UT

  • Hannah Nikonow, Communications & Marketing Coordinator, IWJV, Missoula, MT

  • Megan McGrath, Sagebrush Communications Specialist, IWJV, Missoula, MT

Sponsors:

NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife & Intermountain West Joint Venture

 
 
Hannah Nikonowwet meadow