Third Fork Creek Stream Restoration Assessment, Design, Construction Administration and Monitoring
Client: North Carolina Ecosystem Enhancement Program
Location: Durham County, North Carolina
Services: Environmental planning and design
KCI is providing professional assessment, design and construction management services per SCO procedures to facilitate the restoration of approximately 2,900 linear feet of third Fork Creek in Forest Hills Park in Durham County, North Carolina.
The project site is an urban park dominated by open space, with structures and facilities located in close proximity to the stream. The surrounding area is highly urbanized, with residential and commercial development and secondary roads comprising the majority of the land use. The project reach is incised with active bed degradation and channel widening characterized by severe bank erosion.
The goals and objectives of the Third Fork Creek Stream Restoration Project are to:
- Restore stable channel morphology that is capable of moving the flows and sediment provided by its watershed;
- Reduce sediment-related water quality impacts resulting from lateral bank erosion and bed degradation;
- Improve aquatic habitat diversity through the reestablishment of riffle-pool bed variability and the use of in-stream structures;
- Restore vegetative riparian buffers utilizing native plant species; and,
- Improve natural aesthetics in an urban park setting.
The proposed stream dimension, pattern, and profile was based on the detailed morphological criteria and hydraulic geometry relationships developed from a reference (Priority Level 2) to reestablish approximately 3,025 linear feet of meandering, bankfull channel and a new floodplain. Cross-Vane and J-Hook Vane (J-Vane) instream structures were integrated into the design to provide grade control, assist in stabilizing the banks and reduce the burden of energy dissipation on the channel geometry.
Native woody and herbaceous species will be used to establish fifty (50) foot wide riparian buffers on both sides of the restored reach. Park utilization space requirements dictated that the riparian buffers consist of a thirty (30) foot wide fully forested buffer adjacent to the stream bordered by a twenty (20) foot wide strip of managed native grasses.
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