Watershed-friendly Stream Maintenance for Communities with Jared Bartley
CRWP hosted a free live virtual talk with Jared Bartley from Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District on watershed-friendly stream maintenance for communities. The presentation will help communities develop a watershed-friendly stream maintenance program and provide suggestions for how to deal with typical maintenance issues.
Communities are often responsible for flood protection and water conservation but lack a specific program for dealing with stream maintenance. Often stream maintenance projects create new problems while attempting to solve others. A watershed-friendly stream maintenance program can help communities provide flood management and erosion prevention to protect existing community structures all while protecting aquatic habitat, improving water quality, and enhancing riparian buffers. This presentation seeks to help communities establish a watershed-friendly stream maintenance program and provides suggestions for how to deal with typical maintenance issues. An accompanying manual, “Watershed-friendly Stream Maintenance: A Guide for Communities”, was developed as part of an Ohio Education Fund (OEEF) grant and is available via download or as a hard copy via mail. This manual, recognized as an OEEF Outstanding Project, describes common stream maintenance issues in Ohio, suggests how and when to inspect streams for maintenance issues, and details solutions for those issues.
In Ohio, most stream maintenance issues will be related to streambank erosion, stream channel conveyance, and loss of riparian buffers. These issues all contribute to flooding and erosion which are primary landowner concerns. Streambank erosion threatens infrastructure as urban streams cope with increased runoff from land-use changes. Excessive sediment from streambank erosion can negatively impact navigation, aquatic habitat, and water quality. Stream channel blockages restrict the flow and conveyance of natural streams, which can contribute to increased flooding, destruction of habitat, as well as increased erosion and sedimentation. Loss of vegetated riparian buffers contributes to streambank destabilization, loss of surface water quality treatment opportunities, and the loss of aquatic and wildlife habitat. Each of these maintenance items is addressed.
Watch the recording now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkmV5k-F0tE&feature=youtu.be
Stream Maintenance Guide: https://crwp.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/streammaintenencemanual2015.pdf
Summary of 2017 Nationwide Permits: https://crwp.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Summary_Final_2017NWPs_1-2017.pdf