DISCUSSION: 'Meadow Restoration Increases Baseflow and Groundwater Storage in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California' by Luke J.H. Hunt, Julie Fair, and Maxwell Odland

摘要

We discuss a recent paper which evaluated the hydrologic changes resulting from a pond-and-plug meadow restoration project in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. In the study, measurements of streamflow into and out of the meadow suggested late-summer baseflow increased as much as five-fold when compared with prerestoration conditions. However, the volume of streamflow attributed to the restored meadow (49,000-96,000 m(3) over four months) would require that 2.5-4.8 m of saturated meadow soils drain during summer months. The groundwater data from this meadow record only 0.45 m of change over this timeframe, which is less than might be expected from plant use alone (0.75 m), suggesting this restored meadow may be acting as a water sink throughout summer rather than a source.