Stream Restoration Projects Provide Happy Endings

Restoring natural stream flows and stabilizing stream banks benefit more than just the fish and other wildlife living in the streams. Stream restoration projects benefit the communities that surround them as well.

Pennypack Creek

Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being invested to transform Pennypack Creek in Philadelphia from a waterway fragmented by a series of obsolete dams to a living, thriving river that is becoming a centerpiece of the community. Since 2005, three dams have been removed from Pennypack Creek with a fourth removal slated for this year, as well as a rock-ramp fishway at a fifth barrier. The remaining two dams are being studied for fish passage alternatives. More than 300 years after the construction of the Frankford Avenue dam, migratory fish coming up from the Delaware River can again access the upstream habitat. The progress on the Pennypack has been made possible by combining more than $500,000 dollars in public and private funds. F. X. Browne, Inc. worked with the Philadelphia Water Department and its partners to develop a Rivers Conservation Plan for the 56-square mile Pennypack Creek Watershed. The Plan development involved the implementation of a multi-phased public education program that included neighborhood and steering committee meetings, public meetings, key person interviews, citizen surveys, and watershed workshops. http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/news/cwp/view.asp?Q=522350&A=3

Mill Creek

The Mill Creek Stream Restoration project, located in Montgomery County, PA, is highlighted in the June issue of The American Surveyor. The stream had sustained severe bed and bank erosion as a result of a flood, endangering the driveway and creating a visual eye sore on the property. F. X. Browne, Inc. designed the restoration measures that corrected bed and bank instability and enhanced the look and feel of the stream as the property's central landscape feature. The streambank was restored through the use of a native boulder toe revetment and a vegetated geogrid. Vegetative components of the geogrid were custom designed for the shady project environment.

Healthy streams with abundant life attract tourists and fisherman and add to the quality of life in the communities surrounding them. A number of funding sources for stream restoration and dam removal exist, including the “Free-Flowing Pennsylvania” grant program. Pennsylvania is not alone when it comes to investing in river restoration and dam removal. The Open Rivers Initiative, which funds dam removal and repairs that improve dams' environmental performance, is expected to be funded at $12 million this year, divided equally between NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 
For more information about streambank stabilization, stream restoration, natural channel design, and project funding, please contact F. X. Browne, Inc.