BRASS applied last year for Fisheries Across America funding for streambank erosion control projects on the North Branch. At the same time, NYSDEC (in cooperation with BRASS) applied for an equal amount in Bond Act funds for erosion control projects on the North Branch and the main stem of the Boquet. The Fisheries Across America grant was approved, but not the Bond Act.
BRASS is trying, therefore, to re-negotiate the Fisheries contract. If successful, BRASS would like to stabilize the embankment and fishing parking lot on North Moss Road in Lewis, and control erosion in a variety of methods on streambanks at the Garvey farm in Willsboro. One of the projects on the Garvey farm is the placement of a series of "lunkers." Lunkers are like an instant log crib, but are constructed of heavy-duty oak pallets. These are positioned on the streambed at the toe of an eroding bank, and secured with steel rebar and large boulders or stone positioned over them. The top embankment is sloped to the boulders and seeded. The pallets, like log cribbing, give fish a place to rest and hide under the structure.
A former hope of creating a sediment basin in Spruce Mill Brook at the Milholland Park in Lewis has been squashed. Sediment basins have been dug into streambeds in Michigan in order to catch and hold sands that otherwise degrade the habitat needed for trout and salmon. Although basins appear successful in restoring habitat, conversations with fisheries biologists and hydrologists at the Huron & Manistee National Forest have made BRASS skeptical of digging a basin anywhere on the Boquet. Basins in Michigan have been placed on streams with only 1% gradient, where groundwater make up the majority of flow, and where sand is the primary bedload movement. After learning of the Boquet's steep and flashy nature, the Michigan scientists believed basins here would immediately fill with sand as well as gravels and cobbles, and would require constant cleaning.
Eroded embankment next to Garvey's pasture on the North Branch in Willsboro. It is important to save the few remaining trees.
POSTSCRIPT (Aug 1998): Grant money was secured for the Gravey "lunker" project. Photo during low water shows the beginning placement of "lunkers." Once completed, large stones and boulders will fill the eroded cavity on the bank.