Westervelt Breach Event
by John Nitta
This morning I attended a very momentous event in Thornton. It was the breaching of a farm levee to naturally let the Consumnes River flood a 500 acre former farm. The farm was purchased by Westervelt Ecological Services, as it is in an ideal location for habitat restoration. The farm had been in production for over a hundred years, but was plagued by periodic flooding. The breaching will allow the natural seeding and growing of native trees such as cottonwood and valley oak. In fact, since the rainy season, millions of cottonwood have already germinated. The breaching also allows habitat for fish such as steelhead and salmon. Before, such fish would come in seasonally, only to be trapped as the winter waters receded.
High Ranch Nursery plants on display
High Ranch Nursery provided some 9,000 plants that were grown last season. Seeds were collected on site and grown with multiple air root pruning to produce a high-quality fibrous root system. Plants were installed last fall. Plantings were in clusters, mainly in the southern half of the acreage and farthest from the breach. It is hoped that these clusters will spread out to establish more native plants. This project was mitigation for the “C” Street interchange in Galt.
Plants installed at the site
Breaching the levee
Water flowing into the floodplain
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