Stabilized Fording Sites
Since crop and pasture lands often straddle watercourses, providing safe crossings for livestock and equipment with reduced potential for negative water quality effects is critical. Additionally, watering livestock at rivers is often the only practical option for agricultural producers. The KWRC has used stable fording sites as both watering locations for livestock as well as crossings for farm equipment. The approaches are properly aligned and hardened, and the stream bottom is stabilized with hard rock to prevent erosion and rutting. Since 1994 the KWRC has installed 85 stabilized fording sites in the watershed.
Kennebecasis Watershed Restoration Committee
Worth Wading Into
Bioengineering
Over the years, bioengineering has become an acceptable and successful technique for river restoration. Bioengineering is the use of living materials and ecologically designed concepts to restore or enhance a degraded section of stream or a riparian zone.
Willow is a key tree species used in bioengineering efforts by the KWRC. This pliable tree grows quickly and can be propagated from cuttings. Its root growth is thick and readily holds soil materials in place and can act as a filter that keeps fine sediments from entering into streams.
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In the summer of 2012 the KWRC undertook it's first bioengineering project with the hope that land owners would gain trust in the approach so that future projects would be more ecologically friendly and improve flood plain connectivity.
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Now in 2020, we have successfully implemented bioengineering techniques at numerous properties - improving stream health across our watershed.
Check out our Bioengineering efforts during the summer of 2020
These bioengineering techniques used by the KWRC will result in the eventual growth of mature willow trees, resulting in overall restoration of a site. The site can be further enhanced by planting other species at the top of the bank and throughout the riparian area. The mature trees will provide shade to the stream and offer terrestrial habitats to other riparian dependent species.
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Through this project the KWRC has tracked costs of installation and will continue monitoring the sites over the next few years to gauge success. It is hoped that our stakeholders will gain confidence in these techniques as they prove to be successful in our watershed.
Bioengineering Techniques used by the KWRC
BRUSH LAYERING
GEO-ROLL INSTALLATION
