Natural Channel Design, River and Stream Restoration
In the late 1990’s Environmental Services, Inc. (ESI) became aware of a newly evolving approach known as “natural channel design” for restoring river and stream channels. Developed by Dr. Dave Rosgen of Wildland Hydrology, the natural channel design approach has its origins in the science of fluvial geomorphology. The approach models the channel features and sediment transport processes that are the result of frequent, channel forming storm flows in stable streams. Since its inception, the widely accepted approach of natural channel design has become the industry standard for restoring rivers and streams to a stable, natural form.
The ESI team includes 9 scientists with formal training in natural channel design with Dr. Rosgen. For the past 12 years, Dr. Jones has directed the successful restoration of over 30 miles of stream and river natural channel design projects in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Texas. ESI has successfully implemented this approach to stream restoration in mountain, piedmont, and coastal plain river systems. We have found this approach to be equally effective in heavily developed, urban watersheds. Over the past 4 years, the ESI team has implemented the natural channel design approach with several fish passage / dam removal projects in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. We have successfully completed restoration projects funded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, National Resource Conservation Service, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, National Headquarters of Trout Unlimited, Federation of Fly Fishers, Chesapeake Bay Trust, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Georgia Power, City of Atlanta, Georgia DOT, and North Carolina Environmental Enhancement Program.
Representative Project:
Sawmill Creek - Rabun County, GA
Project Type: Natural channel restoration of a North Georgia trout stream
Construction was initiated in November 2000 for 900 feet of natural channel design of a primary trout stream, in Rabun County, Georgia. The purpose of the proposed stream mitigation plan was to restore, stabilize, and construct approximately 900 feet of a degraded cobble bed stream channel of Sawmill Creek. ESI provided construction management including pre-construction stake-out of the plan form, supervised and directed excavation and grading, and site clean-up after construction was completed. The project included in-stream structure installation, bank full benches, stream bank stabilization, and riparian vegetation planting.
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*ESI does not provide engineering or land surveying services in North Carolina and such services in North Carolina are contracted to appropriately licensed individuals and firms.
The Thornton River dam removal project was an absolute success. The two cross vane structures held and performed as designed, as did the constructed floodplains during a 10-year flood event last week. This recent flood and a December bankfull event mobilized a huge amount of stream sediment and woody debris, and scoured a number of impressive pools upstream, at and downstream of the project site. A number of agencies and groups have been very impressed with the speed of the work by (ESI's) Doug Hutzell, FSA and the contractors. The landowner, a leader in the community, loves the project as it has exceeded his expectations. In fact, he wants to use this site, as several of the agencies do, as a model for the type of stream restoration that can occur to benefit trout and all of the other aquatic species.
Nathaniel Gillespie, Fisheries Scientist & Director of Eastern Lands Protection Project, Trout Unlimited, March 2010
