Siskiyou Land Conservancy
Protecting California’s Wild North Coast and Rivers Since 2004

Another round of restoration on South Fork Smith River

April 4, 2013

SLC recently completed Phase II of a restoration project that improves forest health and reduces the danger of catastrophic fire on the largest privately owned flat along the South Fork Smith River in Del Norte County, CA.

In January, crews from Ashland, Oregon-based Lomakatsi Restoration Forestry thinned 15 acres of conifers on the 148-acre property, an idyllic landscape dotted with meadows, white oak woodlands and mature redwoods, once a site for clear-cutting now protected by a conservation easement managed by SLC.

Image

Crews spread the cut material over the forest floor to build the soil, as decomposition in the Big Flat area is accelerated by up to 200 inches of rain per year.

Funding for the restoration effort was provided in large part by a 50 percent grant from the U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service. The landowners, the SLC general fund, and SLC contributors and volunteers provided the other half of the cost-share program.