Skip to main content
(707) 678-1655         Donate Contact

Ulatis Creek Habitat Restoration Project

Sun setting over a field with trees silhouetted in the background. A golden glow is over everything with a yellow sun hanging low in center frame. Irrigation line with colored flags is in the near foreground.

In partnership with a local rancher, Solano RCD is restoring riparian woodland habitat along Ulatis Creek in rural Solano County. The project site is located within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a region critical for wildlife, plant, and human communities. For many decades the Delta has been dramatically altered by levee construction, water diversion, and agriculture, and the need for habitat restoration that also supports working lands is present throughout the region. 

The Ulatis Creek Habitat Restoration Project is the second phase of habitat restoration on the active ranch implemented by SRCD. Phase one, which was completed in 2019, included invasive species control, native grass seeding, and native tree and shrub establishment on 15 acres. Phase two of the project began in June 2023 and is spread across the adjoining 20 acres.

Phase two project goals include: 

  • Planting 1,740 native trees and shrubs
  • Plug planting 25,000 native perennial grasses, sedges, and forbs 
  • Seeding 19 acres of native wildflowers 
  • Controlling invasive species on the project site including Arundo donax 

      Once the native plantings are established, sheep will graze during strategic times to reduce weeds and thatch build up, helping maintain the habitat long-term. Reducing invasive species and re-establishing native plant species along our waterways better supports pollinators and wildlife in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta while also increasing biodiversity, reducing erosion, and improving water quality. 

      The main funding for this project were provided by the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy through the Ecosystem Restoration and Water Quality Grant Program with funds from the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 (Proposition 1) (CWC, § 79707(g)). SRCD was also able to partner with the rancher and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to apply for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to fund some of the implementation and weed control while also providing funds for other projects on the ranch including fencing and water infrastructure. 

      Delta Conservancy Logo
      Proposition One logo
      Drone view of land. Left frame is green pasture leading to the levee road in middle frame with green trees running along a narrow water passage between levee road and island on right. Long wide island on center right of frame is yellow-brown to brown-red with green specks of vegetation with dark green trees along the left and right sides where water flows.

      Ulatis Creek Site B looking East from above prior to starting work on site in summer 2023.

      Solano RCD has also been able to partner with other organizations and work with volunteers to restore the habitat along Ulatis Creek. During various stages of the installation SRCD contracted with the local California Conservation Corps to assist with restoration. Fibershed, a non-profit organization that partners with sheep and other fiber ranchers to build soil health and certify Climate-Beneficial Wool, has partnered to bring volunteers out to assist in the restoration of the site. SRCD also works with Putah Creek Council to bring OneCreek interns to learn by doing restoration along Ulatis Creek.  

      If you are interested in volunteering at Ulatis Creek or want to learn more about what you can do on your property in the Delta or other parts of Solano County, please reach out. To learn more about this project, contact project manager Elizabeth Davis at 707-678-1655 x 110 or  

      A man in a green shirt is holding binoculars to his face looking towards the left frame. Brown, dead thistles are immediately next to the man with green vegetation and blue skies stretching out behind in the background.

      Solano RCD staff monitoring for special status bird species potentially nesting on site.

      White, pink, and yellow flowers on bright green foliage fill the frame with golden grasses and dark tree trunks in the background.

      Native plantings thriving!

      Four people wearing helmets (two yellow, two blue) and gloves are standing on weedy ground surrounded by long, dead canes. The person in the right frame is carrying an armful of dead canes. One tall green tree on the left and smaller dark green trees on the right backgrounds.

      California Conservation Corps members removing dead Arundo donax canes.

      Center frame a person in bright blue cap, dark blue jacket, tan pants, gloves, and tall black rubber boots holding a wooden handled tool smiles at the camera while working. A small white bucket with green leaves poking out sits in the left of the frame on brown soil, a creek, grassy levee, and gray skies are in the background.

      Solano RCD staff plug planting native grass along Ulatis Creek.

      Gray skies with bright green spring leaves popping on trees, forbs, and grasses and brown bare earth. Four people are bent over and crouched with tools and buckets planting.

      Fibershed volunteers planting native forbs (perennial herbaceous wildflowers) along Ulatis Creek.

      A yellow bobcat (piece of machinery) with an auger implement is posed to dig into earth on a sunny day.

      Solano RCD staff augering holes for planting.

      In the middle of frame a person wearing dark clothes and bright orange helmet stands in tall brown/yellow, dead weeds multiple feet taller than them. Blue skies and green Arundo (another weed) are in the background.

      Solano RCD staff weed whacking poison hemlock taller than themselves early on in project implementation.

      Group of 13 people in work clothes standing in the shade of a tree holding hoes and smiling. Green levee, blue skies, and small trees in the background.

      One Creek interns out on site after a day of weeding around native plants.