from the booklet's introduction:
The Boquet River Association has worked on thousands of feet of streambanks. Erosion controls included more than 6000 seedlings, additional cuttings, large "live posts", and log cribbing structures.
This booklet is meant to describe how one, small non-profit group can afford, organize, and carry out projects of this scale. Since the key is planning and organization, this is the primary focus of the booklet and is applicable to river associations throughout the country.
Technical designs are normally left to stream hydrologists, engineers, plant material specialists, or agency personnel. However, budgets and agency work loads often restrict their ability to assist. Nor do knowledgeable professionals abound. Therefore, some general designs are included in this booklet, but there are also "seat-of-the-pants" methods. That is the secondary focus: cultivating a "can do" attitude, for some effort is frequently better than no effort.
Streambank erosion destroys fish habitat, flushes nutrients and agricultural chemicals to downstream lakes, causes loss of valuable farmland, exacerbates flood conditions, and muddies recreational waters. Despite the problems, relatively little data is available for the number of river miles in the nation that are eroded. Small groups can do something about erosion surveys and controls if not paralyzed by the belief that experts and money are necessary. Experimentattion can lead to successful and economical restoration. It can also result in mistakes. But even mistakes may be preferable to inaction as long as basic research and common sense are applied. You will have learned much about your river's hydrology, ecology, and inhabitants. In time, you might laugh and share gaffes with others, as we do in this booklet. So, have fun.
Successful projects can never be guaranteed. Even journals for erosion control professionsls contain articles about failed streambank controls and the complexity of watershed hydrology. Rivers have their own aging processes; weather can be capricious; and humans consistently fail to recognize how their land use changes the hydrology and ecology of a watershed. Inexpensive projects are, thereore, all the more important for small non-profit groups. So, too, are projects that lessen land use impacts and the constant maintenance of erosion control sites.
Gain knowledge, have fun, and good luck!
Table Of Contents:
Planning & Organization:
What's Your Problem? Collecting Existing Data:
What's Your Problem? Obtaining New Information:
Resources In Your Watershed
Liability Waiver
Shaping Streambanks
Grasses, Seedlings, Cuttings, & Wattles
Live Post Plantings
Coffer Dams
Log Cribbing Structures and Stone Riprap
Additional Streambank Erosion Controls
Maintenance and Evaluation
Landowner Cost-Share Programs & Funding Sources
Stream Permits
Measuring Bank Loss
Sediment Embeddedness
Erosion Or Road Sand?
Resource Directory
To order a copy of this booklet please send a check or money order for $8.00 to:
Boquet River Association, Inc.
c/o Essex County Government Center, Box 217
Elizabethtown NY 12932
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