Streambank Stabilization and Stream Crossings

With spring rains comes the flush of green many of us have been waiting for. Spring rains also mean spring floods and an increased awareness of issues on the streams flowing through your property. It is important to understand that not all erosion is bad, in fact, all streams erode. This natural process is everlasting and provides the foundations for life cycles of all sorts of aquatic critters. 

There are however many scenarios where streams are out of balance and experiencing excessive erosion impacting property, aquatic ecosystems, and water quality. In balance, streams evenly distribute erosion and aggregation (deposition of sediment and gravel) throughout a given reach. Stressors such as disturbance and encroachment create instability often resulting in excessive erosion in areas and excessive aggregation in others. This is expressed as the open cut banks chipping away at your property or the building of large gravel bars. The instability is generally caused by our actions or management such as allowing cattle access to a stream, straightening, or dredging the channel, installing undersized culverts, and removing riparian vegetation.

During the first few weeks or months of spring is a great time to observe streambank erosion and plan corrective solutions for the issues causing this instability.  The decay of the previous years' vegetation has exposed cut banks and higher flows allow us to observe the channel-forming currents.

In this recorded webinar "Streambank Stabilization and Stream Crossings-on-Farms" you will learn about what causes streambank erosion and some of the conservation practices used to stabilize eroding streambanks, improve instream habitat, and provide suitable crossings on farms and other land uses. The webinar also touches on the economics of streambank stabilization techniques and the available resources for financial or technical assistance associated with planning, permitting, and constructing these practices.

Whether your property is a farm, woodlot, or open yard the topics covered in the webinar can help point you in the right direction for help with your stream issues.