Wet Meadow Resilience

Lake County’s wet meadows, stream corridors, and other wet areas provide important sources of water, forage for livestock, and habitat for wildlife. In our high-desert environment, these areas are especially valuable. However, drought, rising temperatures, erosion, and changes to stream and meadow function can reduce their ability to retain water and support healthy vegetation.

Many of these areas are located on private lands, landowners play a critical role in maintaining and improving their health. Lasting progress depends on collaboration between the people who manage the land and the partners who can provide technical assistance, resources, and funding. 

• Connect, inform, and engage Lake County landowners and land managers.
• Provide opportunities to learn about restoration practices and see projects firsthand.
• Demonstrate approaches to meadow, wetland, and mesic-area restoration.
• Improve vegetative growth and soil health.
• Increase water infiltration and retention.
• Reduce erosion.
• Raise water tables.
• Enhance late-season water flows.
• Connect landowners with technical assistance and potential funding opportunities.

The Lake County Umbrella Watershed Council received a $74,989 Stakeholder Engagement grant from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) for the Lake County Meadow Resilience Conservation Engagement project. The total project budget was approximately $160,000, including partner contributions.

The grant was designed to connect, inform, and engage landowners across Lake County’s Warner, Goose Lake, Abert, and Summer Lake watersheds. The project focuses on helping landowners understand wet meadow restoration practices, see examples of projects in the field, and learn about available conservation programs and technical assistance.

Through workshops, field tours, outreach materials, and collaboration among local and regional partners, the project aims to:

• Share practical knowledge about wet meadow health and restoration approaches.
• Showcase restoration in action so landowners can see how projects work on the ground.
• Connect landowners with resources and potential funding opportunities, including the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Implementation Strategy (CIS).
• Listen to landowners and incorporate their interests, questions, and concerns into conservation planning.
• Build partnerships that support watershed health, productive working lands, and resilient wildlife habitat.

The project brings together LCUWC, NRCS, Pheasants Forever, Intermountain West Joint Venture, ThePivot.Earth, and private landowners. Together, these partners are working to make wet meadow conservation more accessible and to encourage restoration efforts that benefit both working lands and the surrounding watershed.

Healthy wet meadows support vegetation growth, soil health, livestock forage, and access to water. Improving meadow function can help sustain productive ranches in a dry and variable climate. 

Wet meadows and streamside areas provide food, water, cover, and connections between habitats for native fish and wildlife, including birds and other species that depend on these important areas. 

Restoration approaches that help reconnect streams with their floodplains can slow water down, improve water infiltration and retention, reduce erosion, and support healthier meadow and stream systems. 

Wet meadow restoration is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Each property has its own conditions, management goals, and opportunities. Sharing experiences and connecting landowners with knowledgeable partners helps identify approaches that make sense for individual operations and the larger watershed. 

From workshops and field tours to hands-on learning opportunities, these events bring Lake County landowners and partners together to share ideas, explore restoration practices, and learn from projects happening across the region. 

Meadow Resilience Workshop & Field Tour September 2024 | Goose Lake Basin

The day began with a workshop where participants learned from experts about low-tech, process-based restoration techniques before heading into the field to see these practices in action.

The first stop was the Drews Creek project, featuring streambank restoration, an off-site stock water well, and two beaver dam analogues (BDAs). In the fall and winter of 2022, Drews Creek was completely dry. After just two BDAs were installed, water levels rose and vegetation began to develop. Beavers eventually moved in and expanded the restoration work naturally.

Next, participants visited a streambank restoration project on Muddy Creek, where 25 BDAs had been installed across several miles of the creek system. Although construction had been completed just three days before the tour, stretches of creek that had been completely dry were already holding water.

These site visits demonstrated how relatively simple, nature-based restoration techniques can help improve water availability and support the recovery of stream and meadow systems.

Producer Workshop February 2026 | Paisley

Our February 2026 Producer Workshop brought Lake County landowners and producers together for discussions on two important topics: virtual fencing and wolves.

The virtual fencing session featured presentations from Travis Miller with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Rory O’Connor with OSU Extension. Lacey Elder, Bob Elder, and Bridger Talbot of Elder Ranch also shared their firsthand experiences implementing virtual fencing on their cattle operation, offering participants a practical look at how the technology is being used on a working ranch.

Following dinner, the conversation shifted to wolves in Lake County. Jon Muir with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), Sarah Theall from Congressman Bentz’s office, and Rod Ferry with the Lake County Wolf Committee shared information and perspectives, creating an opportunity for attendees to engage in conversation about wolves and the issues affecting local landowners and producers.

By bringing together knowledgeable presenters, local experience, and opportunities for discussion, the workshop helped connect producers with information and resources relevant to managing their working lands.

Working Lands Showcase | Murphy Ranch, South Flat

Our September 2026 Working Lands Showcase brought landowners, producers, and conservation partners to Murphy Ranch to explore four projects demonstrating how restoration can support both watershed health and working lands. Centered around the theme “Better Water. Healthier Meadows. Stronger Working Lands,” the tour highlighted practical approaches to improving water availability, restoring wet meadows, enhancing wildlife habitat, and supporting ranch operations.

Participants visited four project sites across South Flat:

• Irrigation Diversion: Learn how plans to remove a failing concrete weir and restore a gently sloping, roughened stream channel are helping address decades of channel erosion and low water levels. The project is designed to improve fish passage, raise water levels, and make flood irrigation across the meadow complex more reliable.
• Riparian Fencing: Explore how fencing projects can support riparian area management and help landowners better manage livestock access around streams and sensitive areas.
• Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs): Learn how BDAs are designed to slow water movement, encourage water to spread across the floodplain, and help reconnect South Creek with the surrounding wet meadow. The project includes 27 BDAs along a mile of creek downstream from the irrigation diversion.
• Spring Development and Forest Thinning: See how spring development can improve livestock access to clean water and encourage better livestock distribution across pastures, while forest thinning helps address wildfire risk in upland areas.

Throughout the day, ranchers, project managers, technical experts, contractors, and funding partners shared their roles in planning and implementing the projects. Participants also learned about opportunities to get started with restoration through organizations including LCUWC, the Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Pheasants Forever.

The showcase demonstrated how a whole-watershed approach can connect stream restoration, meadow recovery, wildlife habitat, livestock management, and forest health to benefit both the land and the people who depend on it.