The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) recently announced the selection of three projects to restore wetlands that sequester greenhouse gases (GHGs) and provide other ecological co-benefits.
The awards, totaling $4.2 million, were made under CDFW’s 2017 Wetlands Restoration for Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program Proposal Solicitation Notice.
The Wetlands Restoration for Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program focuses on projects with measurable objectives that will lead to GHG reductions in wetlands and watersheds while providing co-benefits such as enhancing fish and wildlife habitat, protecting and improving water quality and quantity, and helping California adapt to climate change. Wetlands have high carbon sequestration rates that can store carbon for decades.
“We are fortunate to have the opportunity to fund wetland restoration projects while directly addressing climate resiliency and furthering the science of carbon sequestration,” CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham said. “Wetlands play a vital role in our state’s water storage and as natural carbon sinks, provide significant other benefits.”
More information about the CDFW program can be found at wildlife.ca.gov/conservation/watersheds/greenhouse-gas-reduction.
Projects approved for funding are:
Elkhorn Slough Tidal Marsh Restoration, $1,596,779 to Elkhorn Slough Foundation. Elkhorn Slough, one of the largest estuaries in California, contains the state’s largest salt marshes south of San Francisco Bay. The slough provides important habitat for a broad range of resident and migratory birds, invertebrates, fish, marine mammals and other wildlife, and plays a crucial role in the local estuarine and nearshore food web. The project includes restoration of an entire cross section of coastal ecosystem from carbon sequestering native oyster beds, 30 acres of historically diked and drained coastal wetlands, and five acres adjacent vegetated buffer.
Ecosystem and Community Resiliency in the Sierra Nevada, $680,974 to The Sierra Fund. The overarching goal of this project is to improve climate resilience at the ecosystem and community level in Red Clover Valley. This project leverages Natural Resources Conservation Service implementation including construction of grade control structures, beaver dam analogues and revegetation, and proposes to evaluate the effectiveness of restoration for improving climate resilience.
Van Norden Meadow Restoration Project, $1,948,803 to the South Yuba River Citizens League. The project is a unique opportunity to advance the understanding of multiple benefits that meadow restoration projects provide through a collaborative monitoring and restoration program.
