Watershed Restoration and Research: Meadow Creek as a Model for Evaluating Active Forest, Stream, and Riparian Management for Multiple Use

SciCast Webinar presented by Forest Service Research and Development

Tribal First Foods, timber, recreation, grazing, and water are essential components of land management in the western U.S., providing a wide range of cultural and socioeconomic benefits. Restoration of both upland and valley floor environments is an ongoing, multi-billion-dollar investment on public, private, and Tribal lands to sustain these critical ecosystem services. 

In this webinar, we highlight a watershed-based restoration plan and supporting research underway in the 116,000-acre Meadow Creek watershed, a tributary to the Grande River in northeast Oregon that is part of the Snake and Columbia River Basins. Meadow Creek includes the 25,000-acre Starkey Experimental Forest and Range, where applied research based on active management has been conducted for nearly 100 years. Past and ongoing research in and around Starkey provides a foundation to the whole-watershed restoration and research.

We describe the project, management-research integration, interdisciplinary research, and the wide range of abiotic and biotic responses that we evaluated. In this project, use of Tribal First Foods is a centerpiece for restoration design, implementation, and research, and for integration of the work with additional public lands management objectives.