Capital Region Cares Capital Region Cares 2017-2018 | Page 47

project started right around the early
years of the drought, she says, the team
was able to change what she calls their
“planting palette” to accommodate the
lowered water table of the surrounding
area. Officially, the grant-funded plant-
ing and restoration project seeks to
rehabilitate the “streamside and ripar-
ian vegetation,” according to the SVC’s
quarterly newsletter, Horizons.
Barry Baba, a habitat restoration
and land manager at Teichert, says he
was called upon nearly three years ago
by the SVC to help with the restoration
and monitoring of the creek area.
Baba says they helped with “passive
restoration efforts” like planting Oregon
ash, willow, valley oak, blue oak and live
oak trees, among other types of plants
and shrubs, as well as more aggressive
restoration efforts, such as installing
fences to help keep cattle out of the
creek bed and improve the water quality
for the native inhabitants, including
salmon. Baba says his team will
continue to work with SVC on the Deer
Creek site for another two years, against
encroaching invasive species. n
Robin Epley is the former associate editor
for Comstock’s. On Twitter @robin_epley.
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