The Little Deer Creek Landscape Resilience Project seeks to improve forest health and ecological resilience on 260 acres in Nevada County. The project is located about one mile east of Nevada City along Little Deer Creek, and consists of 200 acres of federal land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and 60 acres of private land under conservation easements held by the Bear Yuba Land Trust (BYLT). Little Deer Creek flows into downtown Nevada City, where it joins Deer Creek, a major tributary of the South Yuba River.
The project site consists of heavily forested parcels among residential neighborhoods within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) surrounding Nevada City. The D.S. Canal, managed by Nevada Irrigation District, runs through the BLM properties. Also on BLM property is a 55-acre-foot drinking water reservoir and water treatment facility operated by Nevada City. The popular Cascade Canal Trail runs along the southern edge of the project area and connects to BYLT’s Woodpecker Wildlife Preserve. The Nevada County Sportsmen Club operates a 50-acre archery range in the project area that is used daily throughout the year.
With funding from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy’s Prop 68 grant program, the YWI is partnering with Sierra Streams Institute to undertake project planning and environmental compliance, which should be complete by the end of 2021.