SPAWN is hard at work restoring the abandoned Redi-mix concrete plant on Black Mountain Ranch. The goal of the project is to restore the existing parking area back into a natural riparian forest, one that existed before the cement plant was built.

Our restoration project will remove the concrete surfaces from the parking area, re-contour the banks so the water flows naturally off the site, and plant thousands of native trees throughout a mile-long stretch of the creek corridor. The bank grading will also expand the floodplain area so that juvenile salmon can seek slow water refuge during storms.

Once the parking area is removed and the banks are shaped, SPAWN staff and volunteers will re-plant the area with native trees like redwood and elderberry and remove nonnative weeds like Himalayan blackberry and cape ivy. This native forest will improve water quality and provide complex riparian habitat to endangered coho salmon and other wildlife species. Funding for this project has been provided by the CA. Department of Fish and Wildlife and SPAWN members (Thank you!).

Join us Sunday, July 8 and Sunday July 22 from 10 am to 2pm for a fun day outside restoring habitat at the Redi-mix concrete site. Meet at SPAWN headquarters in Olema. To get involved, email Preston Brown, SPAWN Director of Watershed Conservation at preston@tirn.net.