Balance Hydrologics provided the conceptual and construction-level channel and wetland restoration designs for the UC Davis Tahoe City Field Lab Restoration Project. The field lab is a former fish hatchery in Lake Forest, California, and is surrounded by Polaris Creek and its associated wetlands, including an abandoned spring-fed hatchery pond. The riparian wetland system was restored and used to study the effectiveness of wetlands in removing pollutants from urban storm runoff.
The restoration design also includes public access and interpretive educational signage. Balance executed the project in three phases from 2008 to 2010 as part of a multidisciplinary team that included general and landscape contractors, regulatory staff, architects and landscape architects, planners, and UC Davis and Desert Research Institute (DRI) researchers. Phase 1 consisted of background and regional research, the collection of site-specific baseline information, coordination with local agencies and other researchers, and identification of a preferred wetland restoration concept. Phase 2 involved the development of construction plans, regulatory permitting and bidding. Lastly, Phase 3 included work associated with implementing the restoration plan, such as contractor coordination, construction observation, and producing as-built plans, a summary report, and a post-project restoration monitoring plan.
