Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

Stream Bank Erosion

I have grown up with a background of environmental preservation my entire life. My father, working for the Summit Soil and Water Conservation District, taught me the value of our rivers and how detrimental to us it could be to pollute them. Under his supervision and mentoring, grew a love for the environment and the knowledge needed to preserve it. This passion followed me my entire life. In high school I was part of my schools Evirothon and science Olympiad team. I competed with other schools on my knowledge of steams and what it takes keeps them healthy. Now entering college, I have chosen to be a geology major to help identify pollution in our ground water and invent new ways to stop the pollution at its source and clean it up.
The project I chose to complete was done in my local park, Hinckley reservation. There, a stream in dire need reconstruction was our main focus. The steam after many years enduring construction and changes all around it lost its original sinuosity. The stream banks eroded leaving sediments to build up on its shore and standing water on its shallow banks. The water no longer flowed properly through the channel and affected a small pavilion. As the stream bank grew and more sediment deposited, it put the pavilion at risk of being unusable. The stream was making the area around the pavilion into a marsh. So what my team and I did was reconstruct the stream bank to return the river to its natural flow. We built up the stream banks with rock, soil, and, logs. The combination of these gave the soil rigidity so the bank would not erode again. The logs were placed strategically in the stream to help direct the flow of water so it would cut into our newly formed bank. Lastly, we took cuttings from water loving plants such as willow trees to soak up water in the bank and also provide support to hold in the soil.
The stream bank project has been taking place since 2011 and now the stream bank is in its growing and healing process. The trees and native grasses are finally starting to grow and the soil and rock in the stream bank is finally starting to settle and become one. As for the picnic area, it is dry and patrons can now have a picnic without fear of being flooded out thanks to the great people that made this project possible. This project meant a lot to me and rekindled that need to preserve and correct the world around us so that current and future generations can enjoy it.