Wet-side Soil Bioengineering: RRNW 2016

This presentation documents wet-side soil bioengineering treatments at Point Grey Cliffs and UBC slopes, then shows examples of wattle fences, brush mattresses, live pole drains, modified brush layers, gully breaks, silt fences, palisades, pocket planting, and gravel-bar staking.

40:40 · 223 slides · Historical presentation · No recorded narration

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Riparian & Streambank Restoration · Wattle Fencing · Living Structural Systems in Soil Bioengineering · Live Gravel Bar Staking

About this presentation

Source: River Restoration Northwest wet-side soil bioengineering workshop, 2016. Slides by David Polster; individual image and diagram credits remain in the presentation. This video includes the complete supplied deck. It is an archive slideshow, not a recording of the spoken conference session.

Dates, costs and examples reflect the original presentation. Treatment suitability depends on current site conditions and requirements.

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  1. Point Grey Cliffs
    Wet Side Soil Bioengineering Treatments

  2. Point Grey Cliffs ca 1972

  3. UBC Slopes, Winter 1988/89

  4. UBC Slopes, March 6, 1989
    70o Slope

  5. Doesn’t change slope (70 degrees)
    Changes conditions for vegetation growth
    1989

  6. UBC slopes initial test planted winter of 1987/88, May 7, 1988

  7. Wattle Fences

  8. UBC Slopes, May 28, 1990

  9. UBC Slopes, January 18, 1990

  10. UBC Slopes, 1996

  11. UBC Slopes, March 25, 1999

  12. UBC Slopes, March 25, 1999

  13. UBC Slopes, July 4, 2012

  14. UBC Slopes, July 4, 2012

  15. UBC Slopes, November 26, 2012

  16. UBC Slopes, November 26, 2012

  17. UBC Slopes, January 21, 2016

  18. UBC Slopes, January 21, 2016

  19. UBC Slopes, March 25, 2509

  20. UBC Slopes piping failure

  21. UBC Slopes piping failure, brush mattress

  22. UBC Slopes piping failure, re-establishing slope using wattle fences

  23. UBC Slopes piping failure, brush mattress draining moisture

  24. UBC Slopes piping failure, excellent growth with ample moisture

  25. Nature’s barbed wire…

  26. Small slumps under straw blanket

  27. Moisture sensitive soils treated with “Soil Guard”

  28. Soil slumps under spray on blanket

  29. Moisture sensitive soils treated next with coco-fibre matting

  30. … with a similar result.

  31. As the winter progressed, the slope continued to unravel.

  32. Repairs initiated

  33. Wattle fences hold the mud but let the water out.

  34. The cuttings love the wet soil…

  35. … and grow well.

  36. May 21, 2008

  37. March 23, 2010

  38. Road fill failure

  39. At construction, fall 1995
    June 25, 1997

  40. Catching rolling stones
    We can get satisfaction!

  41. Two types of treatment
    $320,000
    $13,000

  42. Substantially built…
    …but does it contribute ecologically to the site?

  43. Road deactivation near creek
    August 18, 1987

  44. Sept. 22, 1987
    Sept. 22, 1987
    Lunchtime

  45. July, 1988

  46. July 9, 2005

  47. August 1, 2009

  48. September 25, 2015
    27 years after treatment

  49. Old Wooden Retaining Wall Replacement
    Elbow River, Calgary October 2, 2014

  50. Elbow River, Calgary October 2, 2014

  51. Elbow River, Calgary December 15, 2014
    Slope is in rough shape

  52. Elbow River, Calgary April 9, 2015

  53. Elbow River, Calgary April 10, 2015

  54. Elbow River, Calgary April 11, 2015

  55. Elbow River, Calgary April 18, 2015

  56. Elbow River, Calgary April 18, 2015

  57. Elbow River, Calgary July 21, 2015

  58. Broadway Run Landslide Treatment
    Slide adds sediment to the Cowichan River, January 8, 2015

  59. February 4, 2013

  60. August 21, 2014

  61. Ripping apart old stumps

  62. Treatment designed to use natural processes of landslide recovery to treat the slide.
    March 14, 2015

  63. Dense live staking

  64. Slows flow velocities, adds root strength and removes excess water. Assists recovery.
    March 14, 2015

  65. Sprouts appear on most cuttings, April 23, 2015

  66. Great promise for a green spring, April 23, 2015

  67. June 8, 2015, looking down towards the river.

  68. June 8, 2015, looking up from the river.

  69. Even the horizontal cuttings are growing, June 8, 2015.

  70. A cautionary tale…
    June 20, 1997

  71. Covered with MBLs – October 25, 1997

  72. Solved ??? the Mowhokam Creek Slide

  73. March 21, 1998 mud flows

  74. March 21, 1998 – surface soup

  75. Surface mud flows topple horizontal structures

  76. Wattle fences & MBLs have limited resistance to toppling - 1998

  77. However, even a little stability helps - 2006

  78. Still more work to do - 2006

  79. Typical toppling failure

  80. Live Smiles
    Uses catenary curve to “suspend” mud

  81. Suspension bridge, Juan de Fuca Trail

  82. Like a wattle fence built in a curve, Buckley Bay

  83. Good for very wet sites

  84. Abundant moisture allows good growth
    June 24, 1999

  85. Initiates succession

  86. Live smiles in 2005

  87. Looking face on

  88. Red-osier Dogwood doing well

  89. January 2009

  90. January 2009
    Western Red Cedar naturally established

  91. Harvey Creek, near Quesnel

  92. North Vancouver

  93. Fisher Creek, near Chetwynd

  94. Live Pole Drains

  95. Intersecting the water

  96. Installing Live Pole Drains, 1985

  97. Drains moisture immediately
    1986, first spring after installation

  98. Cuttings sprout and grow, 1988

  99. July 16, 1999

  100. Business end of live pole drain,
    July 16, 1999

  101. Still draining water after 14 years, July 16, 1999
    Note rock shape

  102. July 9, 2005

  103. August 1, 2009

  104. Business end of live pole drain, August 1, 2009

  105. Water flow area in a dry year, 24 years after installation, August 1, 2009

  106. Eventually these seepage areas are colonized by Devil’s Cub and Cedar

  107. Large block slumping – treated with live pole drains, May 9, 1987

  108. Live pole drains, May 9, 1987

  109. August, 1987
    Drains sprout and grow

  110. August, 1992
    Continued growth of drains

  111. July, 1999
    Continued growth, no sign of block moving

  112. Continued growth, no sign of block moving
    July, 9, 2005

  113. Still growing, no sign of block moving
    August 1, 2009

  114. Modified Brush Layers
    Shady Sites

  115. Capilano Park Slope Restoration

  116. Steep slope covered with invasive species

  117. Invasives removal, November 18, 2013

  118. Aerial tram installed for moving materials, November 21, 2013

  119. Loading tram for ride up hill, November 21, 2013

  120. Installing MBLs, Nov. 22, 2013

  121. Installing MBLs, Nov. 22, 2013

  122. Installing MBLs, Nov. 22, 2013

  123. September 1, 2014
    Capilano Park

  124. September 1, 2014
    Capilano Park

  125. MBL on creek bank, Coquitlam

  126. MBL on creek bank, Pearson College

  127. Two open slope slides into gullies

  128. Sidewalls can be treated with MBLs, but what about the gullies?

  129. Compacted till and rocks

  130. Live gully breaks

  131. Live gully breaks act like check dams

  132. Like natural step-pools, this flow is no longer a torrent.

  133. Assisting in the recovery of degraded sites.

  134. October 29, 2013

  135. What will happen in this ditch when it starts raining?

  136. So now it is raining and sediment is washing into a sensitive wetland

  137. Is this an effective silt control system???

  138. A high-tech solution… Live silt fences, February 20, 1992

  139. February 20, 1992
    Cuttings used to slow the flow and start the wetland successional processes

  140. May 11, 1992

  141. January 30, 1993

  142. April 9, 1997

  143. April 9, 1997

  144. How can we restore a wetland that has been lost due to construction of a drainage ditch?

  145. Regulatory issues

  146. Producers and MAL meet to discuss solutions

  147. Slow the water velocities

  148. By using woody pioneering species to slow the flows we prevent erosion and start the successional processes that will lead to wetland development.

  149. Cuttings starting to grow
    May 18, 2006

  150. June 18, 2007
    Hey, look at that, cattails have moved in!

  151. June 24, 2008

  152. May 12, 2009

  153. Live Palisades

  154. Live Palisades Cross Section

  155. Cottonwood poles are collected and soaked

  156. Excavator used to dig trench to water table

  157. Live palisade construction and live gravel bar staking

  158. Cuttings grow forming a wall of woody vegetation
    Mimics natural cottonwood stands

  159. Cottonwood growth after 3 years

  160. Germaine Creek, Fall, 2004
    Double row of live palisades

  161. Live palisades at Germaine Creek, September 8, 2005

  162. Live Staking, a simple but effective tool for a variety of uses

  163. Revegetating riverbanks, Elk River, 1977

  164. Pocket Planting

  165. Forests create pockets of organic matter between the large rocks on talus slopes

  166. Pocket Planting

  167. Pocket planting detail

  168. Pocket planting Seaton River
    August 15, 2002

  169. Pocket planting Seaton River June 13, 2006

  170. June 30, 2013

  171. Pocket planting Seaton River March 24, 2014

  172. Natural successional processes on gravel bars

  173. Natural establishment of vegetation on gravel bars builds the bars

  174. Pioneering species can change the context of the ecosystems in which they grow

  175. Live Gravel Bar Staking

  176. Live Gravel Bar Staking

  177. Live Gravel Bar Staking, Oktwanch River, bare gravel bar

  178. Live Gravel Bar Staking, Oktwanch River, inserting cuttings

  179. Live Gravel Bar Staking, Oktwanch River, growing

  180. Starting to collect finer sediments

  181. Installing cuttings on San Juan River bar March 12, 1998
    Note small machine

  182. Cuttings growing
    May 19, 1998

  183. Sprouts collect small woody debris
    March 12, 1999

  184. Sediment collects in slack water behind small woody debris jams
    March 12, 1999

  185. Once twigs too small to collect debris, sediment collection stops
    March 12, 1999

  186. This leaves enough sticking out so that the cuttings can grow again the following summer
    June 29, 1999

  187. New plants and large woody debris, October 31, 2002

  188. Continued successional development
    June 2, 2006

  189. Understory starting to diversify
    June 2, 2006

  190. Western red cedar starting to appear

  191. As the gravel bar builds, the thalwag deepens, June 2, 2006

  192. June 19, 2011

  193. A dense stand of willows and other species have developed on the bar.
    June 19, 2011

  194. The root infused sand is relatively erosion resistant (June 19, 2011)

  195. June 10, 2014

  196. May 13, 2015

  197. May 13, 2015

  198. June 10, 2014
    Sitka Spruce establishing under the canopy of pioneering species

  199. Collecting cuttings at Germaine Creek, YT, Fall, 2004

  200. Soaking cuttings at Germaine Creek, Fall, 2004

  201. Live gravel bar staking at Germaine Creek, Fall, 2004

  202. Live gravel bar staking at Germaine Creek, Fall, 2004

  203. Live gravel bar staking at Germaine Creek, Fall, 2004

  204. Klondike River at Germaine Creek, Break-up, 2005

  205. Klondike River at Germaine Creek, May 19, 2005

  206. Klondike River at Germaine Creek, June 3, 2005

  207. Live gravel bar staking at Germaine Creek, June, 2005

  208. Live gravel bar staking at Germaine Creek, September 6, 2005

  209. Live gravel bar staking at Germaine Creek, September 16, 2005

  210. Live gravel bar staking at Germaine Creek, August 8, 2006

  211. Live gravel bar staking at Germaine Creek, September 14, 2006, significant sand deposition.

  212. 30 cm in this area…

  213. August 12, 2007

  214. August 6, 2007
    Additional sediment and woody debris

  215. July 14, 2008

  216. August 5, 2014

  217. August 5, 2014

  218. Live Staking to Control Erosion

  219. Developer cleared streambank

  220. Cuttings ready to go

  221. Dense live staking slows flows, December 18, 2005

  222. Growing, July 14, 2006

  223. May 1, 2010

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