After examining in the field the considerable damage resulting to a landscape-level ecosystem by a century or more of human impacts, we have undertaken the lead role in large scale restoration of the montane meadows and riparian habitat of this vital Sierra Nevada corridor.
By Marla Stark President and Chair JMT Wilderness Conservancy
For years, the Inyo National Forest (the Inyo) has acknowledged that the seasonal influx of over 2,000 visitors and 900 vehicles per day into Reds Meadow Valley, just west of Mammoth Lakes, has caused significant ecological strain. This use compounded the already historic impacts of sustained grazing, the loss of nature’s engineer --the beaver, and the elimination of the traditional Indigenous stewardship of this landscape.
The meadows and forests in this area are among the most visually striking and ecologically sensitive landscapes accessible by paved road. Nestled along the San Joaquin River, these meadows look upward to Minaret Falls as it cascades from the eastern face of the Ritter Range, with the iconic Minarets forming jagged peaks along the western skyline.
JMT Wild staff, WRA consultants, and INYO National Forest crew on a site assessment of Agnew Meadows surveying a fragile and extremely rare network of two dozen fens adjacent to serious impacts from grazing. August 2025
Within just a day or two’s hike from any campground, visitors can reach Devils Postpile National Monument, a mosaic of alpine lakes, and the headwaters of both the San Joaquin and Owens Rivers. It is estimated that roughly 2,500 visitors enter the Valley on a daily basis.
Over fifty years, six campgrounds accommodating nearly 900 visitors for overnight stays, along with 350 parking places for their cars and SUVs, grew organically without a master plan. They dotted the 6 mile long bank of the San Joaquin River west of Mammoth Lakes. What began as two-track trails evolved into extended roadways reaching deep into meadows and fringe forest, accelerating erosion, compacting soils, and degrading water quality and habitat. The cumulative impact has placed immense pressure on this corridor, and intervention became essential.
Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project
MIDDLE FORK SAN JOAQUIN RIVER
FLAT GROUP CAMPGROUND & AMPHITHEATER
Reds Meadow Valley, west of Mammoth Lakes. US Forest Service Road is marked in BLACK The Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River in BLUE
PUMICE
PUMICE
MINARET FALLS CAMPGROUND
REDS MEADOW ROAD
SODA SPRINGS CAMPGROUND
AGNEW MEADOWS
REDS MEADOWROAD
REDS MEADOW AND CAMPGROUND
SOTCHER LAKE
In 2022, the Inyo National Forest approached JMT Wild with a request to support the renovation of six campgrounds along the Reds Meadow corridor, and to restore the surrounding meadows and riparian habitat. Two larger meadows at the north and south ends, in the middle of which two of these campgrounds had been located, had also been degraded by decades of pack stock grazing.
At first, I was hesitant. A project of this scale had the potential to strain our organization’s project management capacity and back office systems. Although major habitat and meadow restoration was included, the project appeared to veer into the realm of recreational infrastructure renovation—an area outside our mission.
Later that year, I visited the area when the crowds had departed and the first snowfall loomed. Wandering the banks of the San Joaquin in the silence of early winter, it became clear that the primary issue was not recreational renovation but rather the extensive ecological degradation of habitat along a major waterway for the State. The meadows were deeply scarred, runoff channels had carved into compacted soils, and habitat loss was visible at every turn. Conifers and seedlings had intruded into the dry soils in groves.
The damage was so profound that any improvements to the visitor experience in those campgrounds, while worthwhile, were clearly not the primary objective nor the intended outcome. This was a vast riparian corridor in steep decline. I returned from that visit with a series of photographs that conveyed the urgency more powerfully than words could.
Flooded campsite in the meadow floodplain, Reds Meadow Campground
(Left photo) Drainage flowing on a campground road with increasing erosion and flows of silt and contaminants into the River. Minaret Falls Campground (Right photo) Campsites located within the riparian habitat dangerously close to the Middle Fork of the San
Joaquin River, Pumice Flat Campground.
At the time, I was struck by how few nonprofits were actively engaged in the high Sierra, despite growing concern from state agencies and conservation funders about the loss of montane meadows, i.e. those located at 5,000 to 11,000’ elevation. Most of the restoration work was concentrated at lower elevations, and there was a clear gap in capacity at higher altitudes. Over the months that followed, I began reaching out to several organizations including the Yosemite Conservancy, the Sierra Meadows Partnership (SMP), and Trout Unlimited (TU), whose experiences in similar landscapes helped inform our early strategies.
“A project of this size would have a measurable impact for environmental good. It would also stress the organization to rapidly scale with demands on staff and the specialities we’d need to hire.”
From there, the work accelerated on a landscape-level. We began assembling dedicated staff and an experienced technical team and took careful steps toward assessment, design, and planning. By early 2023, we were initiating civil survey work, conducting records searches, and issuing a Proposal Solicitation Notice to identify a landscape architect, ecological engineers, and wetland restoration consultants. The scope was ambitious, but we had clarity of purpose, a growing network of partners, and the right people to carry the vision forward.
Marla Stark, JMT Wild President Reds Meadow, August 2024
Michael Piatti, JMT Wild Project Manager (center) with Adam Barnett, Inyo National Forest Recreation Officer (left) and a member of the civil survey company. Minaret Falls Campground, Reds Meadow Valley, July 2024.
What’s Possible?
Finding the right specialists in a cohesive and effective team is the critical first step to landscape-level restoration of a riparian corridor. Careful study, satellite modeling and collaboration move it forward in a coordinated effort. We achieved both.
By Michael Piatti Project Manager JMT Wilderness Conservancy
A restoration project across Reds Meadow Valley had been discussed with leadership within Inyo National Forest (the Inyo) as a potential opportunity before I joined the Conservancy. As one of the most visited locations within the Inyo, home to some extraordinarily beautiful campgrounds and the world renowned Devils Postpile National Monument and Rainbow Falls, it has been experiencing negative impacts from visitors for decades without the funds to make necessary changes to infrastructure and ensure protection of the natural resources.
With considerable funding coming into place in the fall of 2022, the Conservancy found itself with an opportunity to take the lead role in a sizable project that would support the uplift of vital habitat within the valley and, in turn, allow for a better experience for visitors looking to see, through the easy access of their cars, the wonders of the beautiful Sierra Nevada.
Starting with a tour of the Valley in October of 2022, we began to familiarize ourselves with the issues and current condition of the project areas. From mining to cattle ranching to tourism, and the forced relocation of the Indigenous People who lived in these meadows for millennia, Reds Meadow Valley had been receiving significant impacts for two centuries. So much so that in 1979, it became the locale for the first regionally-coordinated, mandatory public transit system to support a unit of the national parks. For the last few decades, more than 2,500 people a day visit the area during the peak summer months.
It was explained to us that the five campgrounds included in the project area had initially located and expanded organically over time with no master plan for guidance. Each allowed multiple campsites to accommodate over 900 people daily, with two parking places allowed at each campsite, totaling 350 vehicles. Portions of each campground had expanded into sensitive meadow habitat or been established on the banks of the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River.
Without master planning for campground roads and parking, visitors were free to rely on “dispersed camping” protocols to drive into surrounding meadows and under forest canopies. The obvious result became apparent in significant damage that had accumulated over the years to impact vital meadow terrain, the riparian habitat adjacent to the streams and drainages, and the greater watershed of the Valley that feeds the mighty San Joaquin.
Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project
As we began to diagnose the many issues occurring within the project area, we worked with the Inyo to develop a project description along with a Proposal Solicitation Notice to retain the necessary professionals for the work.
By February of 2023, we were in contract with an environmental consultant in Marin, WRA Environmental Consulting, in addition to a landscape architect firm, John Northmore Roberts and Associates. These firms would be vital to supporting the project in campground configuration and restoration design to ensure that negative impacts would be alleviated while visitation was preserved and enhanced.
The project team conducted three site visits over the course of summer 2023. Taking the time to walk through the recreation sites with our consulting team at WRA, Inyo NF personnel and JMT Wild staff, we examined all the recreation sites and their adjoining terrain that were spread along more than 6 miles of the San Joaquin River. It was a lot of ground to cover.
Reviewing the Lost Meadows Model output, during the site assessment of Agnew Meadows. September 2025
“Was it simply a matter of removing the impact and letting the system return to a natural state, or was direct intervention needed to ensure restoration objectives?”
We were able to determine what areas were seeing negative impacts and what changes could be made. Sometimes a whole section of campground had to be removed to restore habitat. Treatments were assessed and determined to ensure the desired results. Was it simply a matter of removing the impact and letting the system return to a natural state, or was direct intervention needed to ensure restoration objectives?
In addition, there was a need to determine whether infrastructure could be relocated. Campground roads bisected key meadow terrain choking off water supply or took steep pitches increasing erosion and damaging runoff into the river. Was there a more durable portion of the landscape that could support the movement of vehicles and the presence of visitors without seeing the same negative impact that was currently plaguing the sites? These questions were thoughtfully discussed between site tour members to reach resolution.
The information gathered over the course of summer 2023 was used in the following winter to develop restoration treatments and a preliminary design schematic for the five campgrounds, a public amphitheater and a parking lot lying in the riparian corridor. A schematic of one campground is shown on the next page. In the spring of 2024, our strategy changed to include meadow expansions into historic flood plains, and the recapture of lost wet meadow acreages. The California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) had published a research paper introducing a satellite modeling technique called The Lost Meadows Model into active restoration strategies.
Developed by the US Forest Service Southwest Research Station in Arcata, it leveraged 10,000 montane meadows previously hand drawn by the State over the prior decade that resided in a data base at University of California Davis. This database recorded meadows delineated in the central Sierra Nevada above 5,000’ elevation, which largely fall within JMT Wild’s mission geography.
Applying additional layers of data, including regional LiDAR, the Lost Meadows Model used machine learning and AI to project the historic flood plain of a given meadow opening a dazzling prospect of actually expanding meadow terrain!
“It took “All Hands” reviewing the data and maps we had pulled together over the last year to reach a consensus on proceedding with restoration across Reds Meadow Valley. The scope and investment were considerable. ”
This Model allowed us to virtually erase 200 years of accumulated damage due to resource extraction, development, the loss of traditional stewardship from the forced relocation of Indigenous Tribes, the near eradication of the North American beaver, and most recently intense recreation. The Model was introduced into the State’s grant making process, and became a part of JMT Wild’s grant terms. Restoration strategies now included the expansion and revitalizing of historic meadow acreages, wherever possible.
One of more than two dozen deep water fens found in Agnew Meadows during the final tour of the Inyo/ JMT Wild Interdisciplinary Team. Fens which take thousands of years to form are crucial groundwater-fed wetlands that provide many benefits to montane meadows like Agnew.
Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project
Fens function as natural sponges that infiltrate and regulate water flow, act as powerful filters to enhance water quality, and sustain unique and diverse vegetation, including a wide variety of peats and mosses. The ones in Agnew Meadows formed an extraordinary and rare network, a fragile and high-priority ecosystem which had been exposed to decades of stock grazing.
The change in the State’s strategy coincided with our review of two large meadows located within the Valley’s riparian corridor, Agnew Meadows to the north and Reds Meadow to the south. Both meadows had campgrounds adjacent to them and had seen campsites developed within the meadow at some point.
In addition, both meadows had a long history of stock grazing which had left a lasting impact on the sensitive habitats. Three site visits were conducted in June and July of 2024 to analyze specific details of the riparian corridor and campground designs, and to assess the condition of Agnew and Red Meadows.
Returning to the office, the field observations and newly obtained LiDAR data were integrated into a modeling run through the Lost Meadows Model. The output maps are attached as fold-outs.
They revealed images of the existing meadow today (green shading & line), a delineation of the “probable” historic flood plain (red line), and a projection of possible meadow terrain and the contributing watershed (yellow line). Expansion strategies soon emerged.
An All Hands team meeting was convened in Mammoth Lakes on July 7th, 2024, which included specialists and professionals from the Forest Service and WRA Consulting, consisting of botanists, hydrologists, geomorphologists, and ecologists; staff from JMT Wild including myself and Marla Stark; leadership from the WhiteBark Institute who manage timber harvest contracts for forest fuels management in Reds Meadow Valley; and Chairman Ron Goode and members of the North Fork Mono Tribe who claim Agnews and Reds Meadows as their native lands.
After reviewing all available data, the Lost Meadows Model output, and with ample discussion, it was decided that both the riparian corridor and the two large meadows at the ends of the Valley should proceed with ground truth’ing, i.e. field verifying the collected data to design a preliminary restoration plan.
Orientation
This map shows Reds Meadow and Campground, located within Reds Meadow Valley, just west of the town of Mammoth Lakes.
• The US Forest Service Road is shown in BLACK
• The Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River is shown in BLUE
For a broader view of where this location sits within California, see pages 4–5
Fold
SOTCHER LAKE
Green line marks existing meadow. Red line marks probable meadow perimeter. Yellow line shows possible treatment areas of the meadow plain and supporting watersheds.
REDS MEADOW AND CAMPGROUND
August 2025
Damage to meadow and stream bank erosion due to grazing.
Agnew Meadow Site visit
Orientation
This map shows Agnew Meadows, located within Reds Meadow Valley, just west of the town of Mammoth Lakes.
• The US Forest Service Road is shown in BLACK
• The Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River is shown in BLUE
For a broader view of where this location sits within California, see pages 4–5
Fold out this map to see the output of the
Model for Agnew Meadows
AGNEW MEADOWS AND CAMPGROUND
Green line marks existing meadow. Red line marks probable meadow perimeter. Yellow line shows possible treatments in the meadow plain and supporting watersheds.
What’s The Plan?
Walking the land is still the quintessential exercise in understanding the landscape, its manifest damage, and crafting the incremental steps leading to restored terrain and environmental recovery. Commonly called “ground truth’ing”, no landscape-level restoration plan can withstand scrutiny without it.
By Cody Lambrecht Senior Restoration Landscape Designer WRA Environmental Consultants
Following the All Hands meeting, the field team was selected and dates were scheduled in September 2024 for two multi-day field assessments of both Reds and Agnew Meadows. While still awaiting release by the US Geological Survey of LiDAR for the Valley, it was decided that to keep the project on schedule, JMT Wild would fund drone flights to obtain LiDAR over the two meadows. The field assessments would focus on verifying remote sensing data, inventorying hydrological, biological and archeological resources, and identifying restoration opportunities within the meadows, streams, contributing watersheds, and existing campgrounds.
1. In preparation for the site assessments, digital GPS field maps were prepared by WRA utilizing various remote sensing data, prior field studies, and our new high-resolution LiDAR and geo-referenced aerial imagery. The Lost Meadows Model output was utilized to identify potential “Lost Meadows” within the Project Area, i.e. areas that exhibit similar hydrogeomorphic characteristics to existing meadows within a given watershed, but do not currently support meadow vegetation due to a potential suite of deleterious impacts such as grazing, other land use history, channel incision, and conifer encroachment.
2. JMT Wild and WRA had worked closely with the Lost Meadows Model developers and lead researchers, USFS scientists Karen Pope and Adam Cummings, to generate custom model outputs to inform target areas for the restoration field assessment. In addition to the those outputs, data layers including 1-foot resolution UAV LiDAR, high-resolution aerial imagery, and GIS analysis of fire return intervals, vegetation communities, and drainage flow lines were incorporated into the digital field maps.
3. During the site assessments later in September, the field team verified remotely sensed data and collected additional data of existing geomorphological, hydrological, and biological conditions to inform restoration design opportunities. The North Fork Mono Tribe, led by Tribal Chairman Ron Goode, assessed archaeological resources and provided recommendations for recovering meadow and watershed health based on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and current land management practices used by the Tribe. Over six days, the field team walked the entirety of the Reds and Agnew Meadow system, totaling roughly 400 acres, including contributing drainages and watersheds, to map and document head-cuts, channel incisions, culverts, conifer encroachment, overgrazing impacts, and other areas of degradation.
4. After each meadow system was closely examined, the Project team gathered at our base camp to consolidate GPS data, photos, notes, and field observations to facilitate collaborative debriefings and restoration design charrettes between the various scientists, tribal members, and project stakeholders. 24” x 36” maps of high-resolution aerial imagery and hydrography were spread out on our camp table to record and synthesize input from the various team members and illustrate potential restoration treatment areas.
5. Back in the office, the team of restoration designers, ecologists, and geomorphologists developed Schematic Restoration Treatment Maps for Reds and Agnew Meadows, utilizing the various remote sensing datasets, on-site GPS data, and observations gathered in the field. The Schematic Maps are attached as fold-outs here. They identify existing jurisdictional waterways, significant contributing drainages, and areas for restoration treatments including conifer thinning and removal, in-channel structures to slow and spread water such as beaver dam analogs, and TEK vegetation thinning areas to increase sunlight and reduce transpirational demand from meadow areas. The Schematic Restoration Treatment Maps are currently being used in support of environmental and regulatory compliance, in order to advance the project to ground break.
Minaret Falls, cascading down the eastern flanks of the Ritter Range into the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River. This is another spectacular sight visible from the campgrounds and riparian terrain JMT Wild is restoring here.
Orientation
This map shows Reds Meadow and Campground, located within Reds Meadow Valley, just west of the town of Mammoth Lakes.
• The US Forest Service Road is shown in BLACK
• The Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River is shown in BLUE
For a broader view of where this location sits within California, see pages 4–5
Fold out this map to see the Schematic Restoration Treatment Map for Reds Meadow
SODA
Hydrologic Treatments Structures built with onsite materials to dissipate stream energy, promote agradation of incised channels, and improve hydrologic support to adjacent meadows (process based restoration)
Treatment Area Ongoing forest health and fuels management treatment areas.
Whitebark
Tree Removal Area Up to 95% removal of conifers to reclaim historic meadow extent and expand fuels break. Utilize harvested material for hydrologic treatment structures.
Road Treatment (TBD) Intervention to improve hydrologic connectivity between meadows and preserve access to northern campsites (boardwalk, causeway, subsurface drainage improvements, etc.)
Traditional Ecological Cultural Thinning Area Riparian canopy thinning to improve biological diversity within existing overcrowded stands and improve hydrologic support for adjacent meadows. Utilize harvested material for hydrologic treatment structures.
Tree Thinning Area 5-75% thinning of confiers and understory to improve meadow health and reduce forest fuels.
Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project
Conifer seedling incursions, foreground and periphery, happen when meadow water tables drop, desiccating the soil to become host to hundreds of young trees. Unless removed, these incursions will permanently alter the system and create dense wildfire fuels.
AGNEW MEADOWS
MIDDLE FORK SAN JOAQUIN RIVER
Orientation
This map shows Agnew Meadows, located within Reds Meadow Valley, just west of the town of Mammoth Lakes.
• The US Forest Service Road is shown in BLACK
• The Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River is shown in BLUE
For a broader view of where this location sits within California, see pages 4–5
Fold out this map to
Tree Thinning Area
5-75% thinning of confiers and understory to improve meadow health and reduce forest fuels.
Tree Removal Area
Up to 95% removal of conifers to reclaim historic meadow extent and expand fuels break. Utilize harvested material for hydrologic treatment structures.
Traditional Willow and riparian canopy diversity within existing hydrologic
Traditional Ecological Cultural Thinning Area
riparian canopy thinning to improve biological existing overcrowded stands and improve hydrologic support for adjacent meadows.
Hydrologic Treatments
Structures built with onsite materials to dissipate stream energy, promote agradation of incised channels, and improve hydrologic support to adjacent meadows (process based restoration)
Treatment Legend
Timber Removal Area
Timber Thinning Area
Traditional Ecological Cultural Thinning Area
Hydrologic Treatment
Jurisdictional Stream
Road, Packstock, and Parking Infrastructure
Ongoing forest health and fuels management treatment areas.
Whitebark Treatment Area
Whitebark Treatment Area
Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project
The world famous Minaret Peaks in the Ritter Range towering above Reds Meadow Valley with the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River flowing at their base and the JMT traversing its full length. These mountains are visible from nearly all points along the 6-mile valley floor.
With a newly re-engineered US Forest Service paved road descending from Mammoth Mountain, the campgrounds and meadows JMT Wild will be restoring here are uniquely accessible and thus are widely visited by as many as 20,000 visitors a day in peak season.
What’s Legal?
State and federal agencies are moving rapidly to clear an easier pathway through environmental compliances and permits for landscape-level restoration projects in the Sierra Nevada. California has made great strides toward unsnarling the regulatory scheme, thus enabling quick ground breaks on our projects.
By Marla Stark President and Chair
Once a fairly detailed set of plans is complete, they must be submitted to both state and federal environmental agencies for review and permitting. Because our projects involve substantial acreages of undeveloped public lands, they must also proceed with archaeological and historical preservation clearances. As a predicate, this often involves field surveys to determine if any cultural resources are present, and if so, how to avoid or preserve them. It can be a lengthy and costly process – one we are working our way through now for the Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project.
The federal and state environmental statutes, enacted decades ago, were designed to manage development and construction without damaging natural resources and ecological systems. The two major statutes enacted to avoid significant environmental impacts are the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project
Since their inception, it was recognized that certain efforts were designed primarily to restore damaged terrain rather than to develop it. Thus there are exemptions and exclusions from the statutory coverage for qualifying restoration projects. Still, even under such an exemption or exclusion, the regulatory process called for detailed plans and certainty in both project design and outcomes that often strained reasonableness. This resulted in cost prohibitive environmental review and delays that were widely experienced by developers and project proponents.
That is beginning to change, especially in California. In 2021, Governor Newsom, through the California Natural Resources Agency, proposed the state’s Cutting the Green Tape initiative. At the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, a Cutting the Green Tape team was chartered to expedite vital restoration projects otherwise subject to CEQA. A new exemption termed the Statutory Exemption for Restoration Projects or SERP, and new, efficient permitting tools were introduced to speed the regulatory process for these muchneeded projects. The Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project is being reviewed through the SERP, saving many months of CEQA document preparation and review.
However our projects must also satisfy sections 401 and 404 of the federal Clean Water Act which govern the discharge of dredged or fill material into all waters of the United States, including wetlands or wet meadow ecosystems. This has required us to work with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (known as the Water Board) and the US Army Corps of Engineers, who are responsible for those processes. The resulting water quality certification and Corps permit will ensure the proposed activity will comply with federal, state or tribal water quality and wetlands protection standards.
Reviewing the data and observations at day’s end, with hard copy treatment and hydrology maps.
From left:
Michele Slaton, Inyo Interdisciplinary Team Lead
Michael Piatti, JMT Wild Project Manager
Erik Vane, WhiteBark Institute, Forest Health Program Manager
“With the California regulatory agencies leading the way, we hope to complete environmental review and all permits this winter for a ground break in Reds Meadow Valley in July 2026!”
Finally we must comply with section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), which requires federal agencies to consider the effects of proposed restoration work on historic resources, including potential archaeological sites that may be present in the project area. Achieved through the sub-contracting of archaeologists to survey and field verify all potential treatment areas, this preliminary work ensures that cultural resources are identified, evaluated, and avoided, or impacts to them mitigated in advance.
Fortunately, much of this work was already done in order to provide forest fuels management and forest thinning across the Valley as fire mitigation for the Town of Mammoth Lakes. For us, this means we must finish the surveys of treatment areas in the Reds Meadow Valley riparian corridor and meadows, net of the forest fuels management areas. Limited and reasonably well confined, those final surveys are planned to be completed later this fall.
Several other permits are required. So we must monitor the process carefully and complete all due diligence. With California regulatory agencies leading the way, we hope to complete environmental review and all permits this winter for ground break in Reds Meadow Valley in July 2026!
What’s Measured?
JMT Wild is pioneering a practical, data-informed approach to meadow restoration monitoring by integrating remote sensing and drone technology to overcome the unique challenges of working in remote montane meadows.
By Logan Egan Senior Landscape Architect JMT Wilderness Conservancy
At JMT Wild, I am responsible for supporting our meadow restoration work, and in particular for organizing the research and development of our Meadow Monitoring Program, starting with our project in Reds Meadow Valley (RMV).
Monitoring is an integral part of the overall restoration process; not only is it used to measure the progressive recovery of restoration, it also provides us with key information that allows us to adapt our management of the site in subsequent years. Monitoring must be linked to our restoration goals, and so developing the program has had the additional benefit of forcing us to think critically about and clarify what we are trying to achieve. In the end, we decided that our primary goal is to restore the natural hydro-geomorphic and biotic processes within the expanded meadow systems.
When landing upon a monitoring approach, I first wanted to cast a wide net, and I started by seeking guidance from the Sierra Meadows Partnership, a consortium of meadow conservation groups with the mission of leveraging closer collaboration to increase the pace, scale and efficacy of meadow restoration in the Sierra Nevada. We are one of its newest partners.
I reviewed the Partnership’s Sierra Meadows Wetland & Riparian Area Monitoring Plan (SM-WRAMP), a document that presents a comprehensive menu of monitoring protocols and provides us with a thorough background of the options available. There were so many options to consider, many of which required highly technical expertise and equipment to carry out!
Field assessment team member at Reds Meadow working on a satellite-enabled iPad. September 2024
At this point we needed to take a step back and consider more than just which monitoring protocols would be ideal, but just as importantly, which would actually be feasible to implement in the conditions where we work. Because most of our projects are in the JMT backcountry and federally designated Wilderness, the portability and technical efficiency of the equipment and the invasiveness of the protocols must be drastically limited. Being in non-wilderness frontcountry, RMV is a notable exception to this, yet we are treating the project as a test for how to approach future projects, and so we are tailoring the monitoring approach accordingly.
In fact, the above constraints actually served to help us better define the parameters for our monitoring program, including:
• Cost-effectiveness
• Feasibility to perform in the remote backcountry
• Feasibility for us to perform in-house without the need for specialized expertise
Now having a better idea of our restoration goals and monitoring program parameters, we next reached out to meet with Jessica Strickland of Trout Unlimited (TU), who led TU’s Kern Plateau Meadows Project. The Kern Plateau meadows share many similarities to those in which we work – they are in Inyo National Forest, they are comparably remote, and many of them reside within designated Wilderness. So, we hoped to gain some insight from the lessons TU learned while developing the monitoring protocols for their project.
Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project
Chairman Ron Goode of the North Fork Mono Tribe, far right, reviewing logistics for the site assessment of Reds Meadow with members of WRA Consulting and JMT Wild, September 2024
We began by focusing on a more targeted approach, gathering the minimal data required to demonstrate project success and inform adaptive management. Monitoring that requires multiple site visits per year; the use of expensive, fragile, or difficult to pack-in equipment; or time-consuming and technical data postprocessing should be avoided. Instead, we are basing our monitoring program on remote sensing data, and supplementing this with the gathering of quick and simple (often qualitative) information on-the-ground while on site. Our next step was to educate ourselves in the application of remote sensing for meadow monitoring. To do this, we’ve sought the help of two of our technical advisors, Rob Dunbar and Adam Cummings.
Rob is a Stanford University Professor, world-renowned climate scientist with extensive experience using drone-based remote sensing for research, and member of our Board of Directors. Until recently, Adam was with the US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, where among other work, he developed the Lost Meadows Model with Karen Pope. He also brings a wealth of experience relating to meadow restoration and remote sensing.
Based upon conversations with them and our own research, it is clear that Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, or NDVI, holds the greatest promise for data collection and measurement. NDVI is the most widely used remote sensing metric for quantifying the health and density of vegetation. It is easy to use and accurate in its output.
Remote sensing technology allows us to record images in different bands of light, called multi-spectral images. Healthy vegetation, in turn, absorbs and reflects particular bands of light, preferentially absorbing visible bands while reflecting near-infrared (NIR).
NDVI takes advantage of this by using multi-spectral data to measure the difference between red and NIR light reflected by vegetation using the following equation:
NDVI = (NIR-red) / (NIR+red)
This equation results in an output between -1 and 1, which essentially quantifies the “greenness” in the landscape as a reliable proxy for vegetation health and density. A value of -1 typically represents water or clouds, 0 is ground with little or no vegetation, and 1 is dense, healthy vegetation. These values can also be visualized on a map with each pixel representing a value.
Because the meadows in which we work are directly linked to the underlying hydro-geomorphology, their greenness fluctuates seasonally according to water availability. Studies have shown that when meadows have a healthier – or more natural – hydrogeomorphology, they will maintain moisture and greenness later in the season. Therefore, by comparing NDVI recorded during the late season in years before and after restoration, one can quantify and visualize the effects of restoration.
“It’s amazing how much we can understand from remote sensing data! While we will still record on the ground observations to inform our adaptive management of the site, the great potential of NDVI as a simple, cost-effective, and noninvasive monitoring tool is clear and exciting for us.”
Naturally, the next question that comes to mind is, how do we obtain the data that we need?
Rob and Adam were able to help us with this, too. There are many websites from which we can download multi-spectral data, but the challenge is finding data that covers the area we need, was recorded at the time that we need, and perhaps most importantly, is of high enough resolution to show changes within the acreages of the Sierra montane meadows that we work in, like those in Reds Meadow Valley. It turns out that there is another way to obtain the data that meets our needs and is a lot more fun: drones!
“Light-weight drones, when used for restoration design and management may be the least invasive option within these sensitive areas—and one of the most powerful tools for both science and storytelling.”
While most multi-spectral data is recorded by satellite, highresolution cameras mounted on drones can also capture it, providing the flexibility of recording data when and where we need it, and at a much higher resolution.
Some concern has been expressed about the noise disturbance drones can cause, particularly in designated Wilderness and in National Parks. Yet, drones can capture data without the ground disturbance of field instrumentation which must be installed by technicians trammeling around the very terrain we seek to restore. In recent years drone technology has advanced such that incredibly light-weight and ultra-quite miniaturized aircraft are now available to do work that required larger, noisier drones in the past.
There is a strong argument, in fact, that drones used for restoration and research may be the least invasive option within these sensitive areas. Drones have the added benefit of providing beautiful images and videos that can serve as useful tools for storytelling; powerful tools for us at JMT Wild, recognizing that we serve not just as practitioners of, but also advocates for, conservation.
“Why not obtain a drone pilot’s license, invest in the drone technology yourselves, and do your own imaging?” Rob asked. Good question. In fact, drones might be just the answer that we were looking for.
And so now we are pursuing just that. In what remains of this work season, two of us in the office plan to obtain FAA drone pilot’s licenses, invest in a drone, sensors, associated equipment, and software; learn to use the technology; and be ready for our first test mission in September. The task list is long, yet we are confident that we can leverage this cutting-edge technology to improve the efficiency and quality of our work, and ultimately, make us more effective as a conservancy.
What’s Ahead?
The Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project is well positioned to finish compliance and permitting over the fall/winter, and to be ready next summer for initial monitoring and the start of pine forest clearing and thinning. Four to five more years of field work will follow as we watch the meadows and river banks bloom and flourish once again.
By Marla Stark President and Chair
Due to delays attributable to the impacts of federal Executive Orders on the staffing and processes with the Inyo, we will finally be able to reconvene the working team for a full debrief in early August. Final site tours by an Interdisciplinary Team (the IDT) are planned for later this summer to confirm the initial location and kind of treatments proposed, as well as the scope of the work.
The Meadow Monitoring Program protocols will be field verified, with test missions of the ultra-light drones for spectral imaging to determine flight standards and efficiencies. Field instrumentation will be purchased. This includes piezometers, and possibly ground penetrating radar, in addition to light-weight ultra high resolution cameras. Data processing applications will be selected and tested for compilation efficiencies and reporting formats. Most if not all of the remaining archaeological surveys will be completed in early fall, before the road to Reds Meadow Valley closes for the season.
Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project
Environmental clearance and compliance processes will be restarted for both NEPA and CEQA. We have reasonable confidence that all state clearances and permitting will be finished over the winter months. JMT Wild may need to provide funding and staff time to support the federal side of compliance and permitting as uncertainties continue within the Department of Agriculture/ US Forest Service. Though in many ways duplicative of state statutes and objectives, the Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project must nevertheless complete the federal processes.
In parallel, we are deepening collaboration with the Inyo leadership and specialists, our Tribal partners and our team of consultants and advisors. This will ensure the Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project remains ecologically sound, culturally sensitive and administratively aligned with diverse interests. These relationships are critical to achieving lasting outcomes at this scale.
Finally, we are investing in the key specialities needed on staff to manage projects of this size and scope, focusing on restoration assessment and design, scientific analysis, and data management; and for the back office accounting and financial support we need to be accountable and transparent.
This is an exciting time. The efforts we have completed thus far in Reds Meadow Valley are huge achievements, the experience of which will be transferred to additional projects that are now lining up in the cue. With great pride and pleasure, we hope to host a ground breaking ceremony in Reds Meadow sometime in early July 2026.
(Left) Logan Egan, Sr. Landscape Architect (Center) Marla Stark, President & Chair of the Board (Right) Michael Piatti, Project Manager.
Summer 2025
Reds Meadow Valley Restoration Project
our Working to restore the watersheds,wilderness, and wildlife in the high Sierra Nevada following the John Muir Trail (est. 1915) for all life in California.
Mission &
Vision
To advance enduring alpine & forest stewardship along John Muir’s “Range of Light”
