Could this $36 million Central Valley river restoration project help with California's droughts?
In its May 11, 2021 cover story, the San Francisco Chronicle describes how projects like River Partners’ Dos Rios Ranch Preserve can help build California’s flood and drought resiliency while also supporting native plants and struggling wildlife.
… perhaps the most ambitious attempt to restore a river ecosystem in the Central Valley.”
Floodplain restoration helps both fish and people where Tuolumne and San Joaquin meet
River Partners’ Dos Rios Ranch is the largest public-private floodplain restoration project in California and a model for the type of multi-benefit, green infrastructure projects that California needs to build resiliency to a changing climate.
… an intriguing way of managing water [that] seeks to enhance flood protection, wildlife habitat and water supplies in one grand vision.”
California Is Preparing for Extreme Weather. It’s Time to Plant Trees.
New York Times science reporter Henry Fountain visited our Dos Rios project for a firsthand look at California’s largest multi-benefit riparian restoration project.
There’s always an opportunity to use vegetation and this green infrastructure to lower flood risk – move the water where it will do the most good and redirect it from places that will do the most harm…and you can do that in a way that is durable and sustainable over time.”
Bakersfield habitat chosen as site to help rescue plummeting monarch butterfly population
Monarch butterfly populations are critically low. Panorama Vista Preserve in Bakersfield is one of eight sites across California where River Partners and our partners are working to restore monarch habitat.
All agree: The loss of the western monarch would be a disaster and a tragedy. And more needs to be done.”
Landscape Architecture Magazine: A Floodplain Forest
River Partners planted the first Army Corps of Engineers project in the nation to build climate and flood resilience, justified by ecological benefits.
Projects like Hamilton City are now seen as the state’s core strategy for responding to climate change and climate-driven flooding in the Central Valley.”
Let it flow: State breaks, shifts levees to restore natural floodplains
Riparian restoration is a paradigm shift from “gray infrastructure” to “green infrastructure.”
At the confluence of the San Joaquin and Tuolumne Rivers, a winter of heavy rains could inundate about 1,200 acres of riverside woodland for the first time in 60 years. That’s by design.”
Nature Provides Its Own Flood Control. Time to Use It?
Visit our Feather River project with KQED Science, a National Public Radio affiliate, to hear how restored riverbanks absorbed floodwaters from the Oroville Dam failure.
After millions of dollars of flood damage and mass evacuations this year, California is grappling with how to update its aging flood infrastructure. That has some calling for a new approach to flood control – one that mimics nature instead of trying to contain it.”
The Flood Management Revolution in California You've Never Heard Of
Sacramento Bee Op-Ed by Executive Director John Carlon:
Last year, the state adopted a new Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, making these restorations the cornerstone strategy to protect communities and farms. In June, voters approved Proposition 68, which will fund more than $300 million of new multi-benefit projects.”
Why Climate Change Makes Riparian Restoration More Important Than Ever
River Partners staff contributed to a study on how and why riparian restoration prepares ecosystems for climate change, published by Ecological Restoration (University of Wisconsin Press).
Today, riparian restoration is further complicated by global climate change… healthy riparian ecosystems promote ecological resilience both within and beyond riparian zones.”
Leadership Award Recipients Tackle Key Issues, Balance Competing Interests in Central Valley
The James Irvine Foundation awarded River Partners their Leadership Award, recognizing and supporting individuals who are advancing innovative and effective solutions to significant state issues, and published a follow up article on our progress.
River Partners reminds us that, as insurmountable as some challenges may appear, solutions are in reach.”
River Partners celebrates 15 years of habitat restoration
Kim Forrest, wildlife refuge manager of the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex calls River Partners her “most trusted partner” in her 38 years of experience with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
They are kind of the gold standard for the quality of restoration work…People don’t realize how critically important riparian woodlands are to wildlife. They are restoring some of the most important and beleaguered habitat in California.”