Green Oaks Restoration Project (GORP)

After five years of planning, the Green Oaks Restoration Project has started at Año Nuevo State Park in San Mateo County.

2023 Spring Update

The Green Oaks Restoration Project Property is lush, green, and full of life this spring! The rain this winter filled many of the new basking ponds and supported the recovery of the wet meadow habitat. So far many frog and snake species have been seen in the newly restored areas! The team with be back on the ground this summer to start phase two of the project. More updates to come!

Construction work at the Green Oaks Restoration Project site

Portia Halbert, a Senior Environmental Scientist with California State Parks, explains, "When we got the property, farming stopped. Farmers chose to pond the water by creating ditches to try and get water off of the field. This dried out a naturally wet meadow which served to expand habitat for the California red-legged frog and San Francisco garter snake often considered the most beautiful serpent in California."

The project's primary goal is to restore the natural hydrology and raise the groundwater table of the site to bring back the historic wetland habitat. Doing so will expand much-needed suitable habitat for the threatened California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) and the endangered San Francisco garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia) and provide more habitat for many other species.

If you ask Ryan Diller, Environmental Scientist for California State Parks, he'll tell you, "We have a water problem on the coast." Ryan's work on the Green Oaks Restoration Project, better known as GORP, is focused on the question, "How can we stop water from moving quickly through historic infrastructure during high rain events?"

Like many of our California State Parks in Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties, this part of Año Nuevo State Park was formerly farmed and grazed. After being transferred to California State Parks in 2013, parkland managers and the San Mateo Resource Conservation District (SMRCD) have completed a full assessment of the property to determine its future use.

After five years of planning, the Green Oaks Restoration Project has started at Año Nuevo State Park in San Mateo County. California State Parks and the SMRCD have teamed with Hanford Applied Restoration and Conservation and Waterways Consulting to complete phase one of the project this year. Funding for this project has come from Wildlife Conservation Board grants and Prop 68.