Butano Creek drains 23 mi2 of the Santa Cruz Mountains, San Mateo County, CA. Land use and channel management practices in the last two centuries have doubled sediment input, disconnected channels from their floodplains through incision, eliminated floodplain sediment storage and led to flooding issues in the lower watershed. Incision and floodplain disconnection not only eliminated sediment storage in the valley but also transformed floodplain storage areas into sources substantially contributing to elevated sediment loads. Removal of large wood, channel incision, and floodplain disconnection are the primary causes of a significant reduction in the complexity and function of habitats that are home to a number of sensitive and ESA-listed species. Channel change and sediment budget analyses revealed that, historically, the lowland valley functioned as a wet meadow and included an extensive well connected floodplain that provided diverse habitats. The lowland floodplain also provided sediment storage upstream of the Pescadero estuary, which is a key nursery habitat for anadromous fish species.

Habitat conservation and restoration is a developing field, with best practices and tools being constantly updated and revisited. Creating tools that accurately guide restoration practitioners is an important way to disseminate this knowledge and experience widely. Additionally, the quantification of habitat benefits has been difficult due to the complicated relationships between habitat features and seen habitat quality. There are few tools that build upon the wealth of ecological knowledge to accurately and transparently compare habitat across a region. The Riparian Landbird Habitat Quantification Tool (RLB HQT) was created to fill this need. It was created by a team of sciences under the Central Valley Habitat Exchange (CVHE), and compiles habitat attributes from four main categories: landscape, vegetation, management, and hydrology. The tool can assess up to 100 acres in one day and outputs comparable site statistics including a functional habitat score of 0-100%. The relationships between these attributes and their relative contributions were determined through literature review or expert consensus. This tool has been tested in the field and adapted to other regions of California, and provides valuable data to habitat project developers in determining priority restoration areas and management actions that are most beneficial to target bird species.

High quality riparian systems in the West have declined significantly over the recent past coinciding with changed hydrology, lack of tree regeneration, and drought. Riparian restoration has been conducted for recovery of threatened and endangered California songbird species. Typically, early successional riparian willow/cottonwood sites are planted, target songbird species colonize young growth, and sites are checked off on the restoration success list. Restoration and monitoring generally ceases ~10 years after completion of planting. This has been the case in the Kern River Valley (KRV) where 142 ha of new riparian forest was planted from 1986 to 1996 for Yellow-billed Cuckoo (YBCU). The YBCU population rose to 24 pairs in 1992 but now, 30 years after the first willow stick was planted, the species has not been confirmed breeding for 5 years. Speculating historical sites were becoming too mature and dry for YBCU, we enhanced 30 ha of mature riparian forest by adding water and new trees. During historical KRV restoration, Steve Laymon conducted songbird territory mapping in 0 to 11 yo restored sites and naturally regenerated controls and measured vegetation characteristics. To facilitate our understanding of current restoration success, we implemented territory mapping in our current restoration sites and non-restored mature controls. We used Laymon’s historical territory data to determine songbirds associated with YBCU territory use using principal component analysis.