A FUTURE GARDEN FOR THE SAGEHEN WATERSHED IN THE HIGH SIERRA

A Future Garden for the Sagehen Watershed in the Sierra Nevada is located in the 9,000 acre UC Berkeley Sagehen Creek Field Station. At this site we have tested a representative group of plant species at five different altitudes to see if enough individuals would survive to create what we call a resilience ensemble.   

This smaller ensemble would be the source to reestablish both the ecological regeneration and water-holding properties of the earth more rapidly than unassisted natural processes. The question we posed for the 8,000 acre Sagehen drain basin was, is there enough biodiversity in the species currently existing in Sagehen to survive when the high grounds of the Sierra experience rapid warming in the next 50 to 100 years?  

A 50-year project, this work is still underway that began with the propagation of 12,000 plants from seed gathered in the watershed. In the third year of operation, we have a 25 percent  successful survival rate of species in all plots, at all elevations.

The six minute animation exploration is part of "The Force Majeure: Sagehen Project". We suggest playing at full screen.