For seven years a small cold-water tributary to Myers creek has been forced to flow through two hundred and twenty-five feet of plastic pipe.  This stream is of particular importance due to the function it provides as brook trout spawning habitat and as a source of clean cold water.  That is the foundation of why this site has become a court-ordered restoration project.

Huron Pines has been chosen as the lead organization in planning, designing and overseeing the restoration of this sensitive headwaters habitat.  Tackling the original problem of 225 ft of 15 inch plastic pipe and nearly 20 ft of fill, Huron Pines began restoration activities this October.  By then end of the project, 5000 cubic yards of fill will be removed, the pipe taken out, streambanks stabilized with native vegetation and the stream will again be able to flow unimpeded.

(Above right: Looking down to the stream from on top of the fill)

The Plan:

As it was being realized this project was going to take place, numerous resource professionals began to provide expertise and advice on how to best proceed.  The one overarching theme was that the stream needed to be restored to as natural an ecosystem as possible, with the understanding the impairment has cause some irreversible changes.

(Above Left: a stretch of the upstream segment of the stream, used as the reference reach.)

To best capture all of the advice and expertise into one plan, Huron Pines decided to capitalize on an existing partnership with the Natural Resource Conservation Service.  The NRCS is taking the lead role on developing the engineering plans to restore this site.  Those plans will incorporate a wealth of knowledge from our resource advisors as well as the necessary measures to ensure that the stream and its banks are stabilized.  From this engineering plan, Huron Pines will develop a bid package for potential contractors and plan the restoration techniques for the Huron Pines Restoration Crew. The project is planned to be completed by the end of September 2008.  

October 12, 2007: Adaptively Managing

The project was going as planned, with the NRCS having surveyed the site the on October 10, 2007.  Two days later, however, the landowner called Huron Pines to report that there is a large hole in the fill and that the water level in the impoundment was beginning to rise.  The pumps that were installed could not keep up with the incoming water and by October 16th, the water was breaching the 20 feet of fill.

Knowing that the pipe had somehow been compromised, Huron Pines made the decision to increase the pumping to drain the impoundment and begin excavation of the fill.  It was our hope to excavate to the pipe, directly below the sink hole (shown above) to determine if that was the location of the failing pipe.  When our contractor got to the pipe (below left) we found that the pipe had in fact crushed under the weight of the fill.  Our plan was to patch that section of pipe and leave the project until Spring 2008 in order to proceed with the original plans. 

As we began to let the water flow back through the pipe, there were signs of another obstacle, as the water was only flowing at half of the capacity of the pipe.  Our hope was that any further obstruction in the pipe would be downstream of the current patch, and we made the decision to excavate the entire stretch downstream of the patched pipe, nearly 60 feet.  During the excavation, we decided to sieze the opportunity of having the machinery close to the original streambed elevation.  After we removed the downstream-most segment of the plastic pipe, we had the contractor excavate a sediment trap in the stream (right).  This provides us with one more protection measure to prevent sediment from leaving the restoration site.  The idea of a sediment basin had been discussed and suggested during the project planning phase.  It had been originally discouraged due to increased damage to the natural stream valley and channel of the unimpaired downstream reaches of the stream.  Having the equipment on the fill near the stream allowed us to install and utilze a sediment trap without causing any further disturbance.

Obstructions Continued:

To continue addressing blockages in the pipe, we decided to investigate the condition of the pipe at the intake.  As the contractor excavated, it became evident that the pipe was installed to have a downspout that joined the pipe lying in the old streambed.  At the junction of these two sections of pipe, there were branches, sticks and leaves all packed in the pipe.  After removing this third obstruction, the water began to flow.  Though there had always been focus on minimizing sediment-laden runoff, the extent of the excavation was unclear.  When we realized we had reached a point that we could comfortably leave the project until we could resume restoration in the spring, stabilizing the banks quickly became the number one priority.

Current Status:

Several layers of sediment fence, multiple rolls of jute netting, and a late planting of winter rye are all contributing to the stability of the freshly excavated site.  Some issues still exist such as the large ground water seep that was uncovered during excavation.  The seep has continued to drain and mobilize fine sand and silt.  Several options are being explored for dealing with this seep and potential seeps that will be uncovered during the completion of the restoration during 2008.  The NRCS has returned to the site to resurvey the areas effected during this emergency treatment.  As those plans are developed, the project will realign with the original schedule of designing and planning during Winter 2007 and completing restoration Summer 2008.

A Moment of Tangible Encouragement:

As the situation of the breaching water and failing pipe, launched this project into emergency status, a flurry of decisions had to be made.  With the project pressing on and impending bad weather, the decision-making became much more frequent and the gravity of each decision became greater.  During the planning phase, there were numerous suggestions, opinions and contributions from several resource professionals, but what was lacking was an example of how to complete this project correctly.

Every step of the project was photo-documented to justify every decision.  While photographing the newly excavated sediment trap, an 11 inch brook trout flopped out of the pipe, gasping and covered in clay.  The fish had either jumped into the downstream section of pipe with plans to spawn upstream or had been sucked into the upstream pipe as we worked to free the flow.  Either way, water had not consistently flowed through the pipe for two days.  The fish was cleaned and rushed to the impounded water upstream.  There before us, ready to get back to the high-quality cold-water of the unnamed Myers Creek tributary, was the reason Huron Pines accepted this project.

Summer 2008 will bring the exciting completion of this restoration.  Check back soon for project updates.

For more information on the Myers Creek project, please contact:

Patrick Ertel, Project Manager 
Huron Pines
(989) 344-0753 ext. 19
patrick@huronpines.org