Meadow and watershed restoration in the Golden Trout Wilderness
The Kern Plateau features a chain of meadows that serve as headwaters for the Kern and Owens Rivers, making it a crucial ecosystem for California’s water supply. Nestled within this stunning landscape just south of Mount Whitney, the Golden Trout Wilderness is home to small streams that nurture the last genetically pure populations of California’s state fish, the legendary golden trout.
Working with our partners at the Inyo National Forest (INF) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Trout Unlimited’s Golden Trout Meadows Restoration Project aims to restore meadow functionality and critical fish habitat in 20 alpine meadows across the Kern Plateau. 2024 marks the second year of construction for this ambitious project.
In the last year, the project expanded to include four additional sites including Big Whitney and Tunnel Meadows; critical meadows supporting some of the purest strain Golden Trout populations. We’ve also added the highly revered Monache Meadow, the largest meadow in all the Sierra. Three million dollars in funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the CDFW made this expansion possible.
Bringing back the blue – restoring meadows and reviving a watershed
Early this September, our TU Inland Trout Program team made a fall pilgrimage to this special place.
Supported by the Inyo National Forest packing team, we installed groundwater wells, streamflow gages and water temperature loggers. These track potential project benefits, such as increased late season streamflow and cooler stream temperatures. We also collected fish, benthic invertebrates and eDNA samples to evaluate the distribution and health of golden trout as well as their food sources. The latter half of the week was spent getting our hands dirty building beaver dam analogs and other instream habitat features with the seasonal construction crew.
Over the summer, our restoration team spent three months camping and working in and around the Golden Trout Wilderness; fully immersed in the dirty and rewarding work of low-tech restoration despite facing challenges like extreme heat, lightning storms, wildfire smoke, rain and sleet.
While the summer of 2024 was marked by record breaking heat, it was also the second successful year of construction for the Golden Trout Project, and a year to celebrate the progress towards our goals. TU and Anabranch Solutions successfully constructed or maintained over 500 structures across 12 meadow sites utilizing low-tech, process-based restoration methods while living and working in the Wilderness area.
Stream by stream: the collective impact of community restoration efforts
In an era of warming temperatures and dwindling water supply, it is easy to grow accustomed to Sierra meadows glowing gold earlier in the summer.
With hopeful hands, we will continue to raise the water table with each structure built and each piece of data collected, protecting the verdant memory held within the DNA of the trout themselves.
Ultimately, it is our shared passion for these meadows and headwater streams that compels us to take action, ensuring that future generations can experience the beauty and tranquility that captured our hearts.
Speak up for clean water protections and healthy fisheries.
Blues lines are the source of our coldest and cleanest water. They harbor abundant wild and native trout and salmon—and we want to keep it that way.