The 2023-2024 geomorphic restoration of Ackerson Meadow wrapped up last week with the final filling of a 160,000 cubic yard erosion gully network. The next phase of work will be to establish native plants that will stabilize the meadow for centuries to come. In addition to planting wetland plants in the meadow, we’ll be planting upland trees, shrubs, and grasses in the excavation areas. And one tree that I’m hoping will thrive on the sunny slopes is the California black oak, Quercus kelloggii. There are a few big beautiful specimens of this species around the edge of Ackerson Meadow and a couple of them produced an excellent acorn crop this year. Some acorns were sent to the Park for growing into seedlings that will get planted in a year or so. But we also directly planted a bunch of acorns into the bare dirt slopes. Some of the equipment operators helped; it was a fun way to wrap up the year, putting seeds into the ground that we can watch grow over the coming years.
