SOIL MOISTURE, ROOT DENSITY, AND PLANT COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS FOR EVALUATING HYDROLOGIC RESTORATION IN NORTHEASTERN SIERRA NEVADA MEADOWS

In order to test the qualitative impression of success of an innovative hydrologic restoration technique called ‘plug and pond', we investigated the linkages between meadow rehydration and changes in soil moisture, root density, and plant community composition in northeastern Sierra Nevada, California meadows and explored the development of appropriate monitoring tools with which to evaluate biotic and abiotic affects. Conceptually, plug and pond restorations reconnect stream flows to floodplains and remnant channels, returning meadows to a pre-incised-channel moisture regime. We studied the effectiveness of using 1) Tahoe National Forest plant community groupings as proxies for soil moisture and root densities, 2) soil moisture and root densities as predictors of eventual plant community changes; and determined 3) year-to-year post-restoration effects of a Fall 2001 restoration in Knuthson Meadow, Tahoe National Forest in the summers of 2003 and 2004. Results indicate that plant communities can be used as proxies for soil moisture and root densities; that soil moisture and root densities can be used as predictors of plant community changes; and that more sampling is needed, due to the high degree of variability in-meadow, to show statistically significant differences in year-to-year changes. Finally, we anticipate that this study will provide resource managers with quantitative tools that can be applied in conjunction with other adaptive management procedures to achieve project goals.