Establishing native wetland vegetation in restored wetlands is an integral component of the Williamson River Delta Preserve’s restoration goals. In fall 2007, large sections of levee were breached on the Tulana portion of the property, and in fall 2008, additional sections of levee were breached on the Goose Bay portion of the property, resulting in the re-connection of the entire delta to the surrounding water bodies. On Tulana, where some wetland vegetation was already established via managed flooding, levee breaching resulted in a dramatic change in the hydrologic regime- most areas are now subject to deeper water and longer hydroperiods. Goose Bay, which was not previously managed as a wetland, was flooded and became colonized by wetland vegetation for the first time since being drained and converted from wetland to agricultural fields over 60 years ago.
A new monitoring program was developed in 2008 to track the response of vegetation to hydrologic restoration. The first year of post-breaching vegetation monitoring was completed on Tulana in 2008 (Elseroad et al. 2009), and in 2009, monitoring was initiated on Goose Bay (Elseroad et al. 2010). This report describes the third-year post-breaching results from Tulana.
Reference
Elsroad, A., N. Rudd, and H. Hendrixson. 2011. Williamson River Delta Preserve vegetation monitoring—Tulana third-year post-breaching results: Klamath Falls, Oregon, The Nature Conservancy, 14 p. (http://www.conservationgateway.org/ConservationByGeography/NorthAmerica/UnitedStates/oregon/Pages/wrdpvegetationmonitoring.aspx)