Riverbank beautification and stabilizing

[woffleon]

Hi all
I have 200 meters of riverbank I want to manage and maintain. Its covered with viney weeds and all maner washed down from upstream. It can flood up to 12 m (100 year flood in 2001) and tends to deposite river silt (loam) until it builds to a point then slumps when waterloged. I have cut a road down the ridge (30 M) to the riverbank and pump where my Apollo 5504 is happy to push through the weeds and level some tracks along the bank. Its all a bit freaky doing this but have managed to clear a track/road from one end to the other and am now working on the low parralel road near the water and have it about third of the way along. I estimate that some of the trees growing hear and close to the water edge are about 40y old so the dynamics of errosion are relativety slow (in human terms). Was considering a post driver for the Apollo and driving in retaining posts and back filling but the silt is 5 m deep in some places.

Is there anyone out there doing same or simailar or have ideas about managing this dynamic area of a property.

 

[smstonypoint]

If you were in the States, I would suggest that you chat with the folks at your local office of the US Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource and Conservation Service (NRCS). They, or folks higher up the NRCS food chain, would visit the site and provide advice about your alternatives. There might even be a cost-sharing program available.

However, in the States your alternatives might be limited under our Clean Water Act and/or other environmental regulations.

In my opinion, an on-site visit by someone with technical expertise is needed in order to come up with a feasible management plan.

Steve

 

[MikeFarm]

Hi woffleon

Speak to your local Catchment Management Authority in your area. For instance, where I am it's the Hawkesbury CMA.
Look here: Home There is a map on that pages to the regions.

Mike

 

[forgeblast]

We have an area that erodes from a sometimes creek. sometimes it rains and it has water sometimes it doesnt and it drys up.
http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/resmgmt/publist/500Series/533430-1.pdf
describes live staking. where you take a tree/bush etc that can grow and you plant it in that area. Since forsythia will reproduce from shoots/cuttings when I trim our bushes I stick the cut pices into the bank to help hold it there and a few have taken hold.

 

[s219]

In this area, we often have to address erosion along riverbanks. It's not uncommon to have riverbanks of 25-50 feet high that are continually washing away and falling over. The best practice to stabilize the bank, assuming you have the land area and budget, is to regrade it with a 2:1 slope, establish vegetation or ground cover on the slopes, and place rip-rap (large stone about the size of a football) along the water. It's not always cheap or feasible, but it does solve the problem. Done right, it also looks good.

In the past, I have seen other people attempt to address the problem with retaining walls and pilings, but that seems to never survive more than 1-2 storm cycles.

 

[woffleon]

Thanks guys - The 2:1 slope is interseting. I have noticed that sections of the bank that have built up past this end up falling in so that points to a grading or contouring which may help maintain natural silt deposition. With some plantings of native veg and some basic maitenance I hoping to have a great looking river bank. A verg mower would be handy for the 2:1 but then how far do you go? I figur if it looks good it is good