land conservation strategies- jeff hartranft
DESCRIPTION
Presentation given by Steve Sylvester on June 4, 2012 at the Third Annual Choose Clean Water Conference.TRANSCRIPT
Jeffrey Hartranft
Bureau of Waterways Engineering and Wetlands
Division of Wetlands Encroachments and Training
Legacy Sediment Problems in Pennsylvania
What to do about those dammed eroding streams?
Department of Environmental Protection
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Legacy Sediment Workgroup
Presentation Outline
• Legacy Sediment Examples and Definition
• A New Best Management Practice to Address the Problem
• Big Spring Run Demonstration Project
• Aquatic Resource Restoration Potential
Photos Courtesy Franklin & Marshall College
Big Beaver Creek – Lancaster County, PA
Conoy Creek – Lancaster County, PA
Mountain Creek - Cumberland County, PA
Photo Courtesy Franklin & Marshall College
Seneca Creek, Maryland
Impact of Water-Powered Mills on Sediment Storage
New dam
Courtesy Franklin & Marshall College
Natural Wetland SoilsNatural Wetland Soils
Legacy SedimentModern Substrate
GroundwaterGroundwater
Riparian Zone
GroundwaterGroundwater
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Typical Mill Dam and Valley Cross Section
Time 1Time 2
Gravel
Colluvium
UplandSoil
BedrockGravel
Bedrock
Colluvium
UplandSoil
Riparian Zone
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Typical Valley Cross Section Evolution
Time 1Time 2 - Dam Breached
Gravel GravelGroundwaterGroundwater
Natural Wetland Soils Natural Wetland Soils
Modern Substrates
Bedrock BedrockGroundwater
Colluvium
Groundwater
UplandSoil
UplandSoil Legacy Sediment Legacy Sediment
Colluvium
Time 3 - Dam Breached
More than 65,000 waterpowered mills existed along U.S. streams in the year 1840. The greatest density of mills occurred in the Piedmont and Ridge and Valley
physiographic province.
Mill density map based on the 1840 US Census and county boundaries.
http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/chesapeake
http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/chesapeake
Dam Locations from 1860-1870 Era Atlases
Photos Courtesy Franklin & Marshall College
http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/chesapeake
Natural Streams and the Legacy of Water-Powered
Mills
January 18, 2008 pp. 299-304
Robert C. Walter and Dorothy J. Merritts
Franklin & Marshall CollegeLancaster, PA
Conventional wisdom
GravelBase Flow
Rural&
Agriculture
Sub-Urban
&Urban
GravelGroundwaterGroundwater
GroundwaterGroundwater
Bedrock Bedrock
Natural Wetland Soils Natural Wetland Soils
Riparian Zones With Incised Channels
Riparian Zone
Flood Flow
• Bank Trampling • Upland Soil Erosion• Few Trees / Shrubs• Manure
• Stormwater• Impervious surfaces • Few Trees / Shrubs• Wastewater discharges
Legacy SedimentLegacy Sediment
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
~300 - ~10,000 BP (14C)
1850 AD (210PB)
• Streambanks represent a significant sediment and nutrient source in watersheds where channels have incised through legacy sediment. (Walter, Merritts, Rahnis, 2007; 2010)
• Legacy sediment stored in valley bottoms predominantly was established by the combined effect of increased sediment supply from uplands and sediment trapping behind ubiquitous dams in many watersheds of the mid-Atlantic Region. (Walter and Merritts, 2008)
Typical Existing Condition
Flood Flow
Legacy Sediment
Bedrock
Gravel
Base Flow Hydric Soils
Existing Root Zone
Bank-full Flow
Modern, inset bar
Hydric Paleosol
• Conceptual models linking channel condition and sediment yield exclusively with modern upland landuses are incomplete for valleys impacted by mill dams (Merritts, et al. 2011)
Big Spring Run - Type Section
Courtesy Franklin & Marshall College
Ecological Restoration Guiding Principles
Address ongoing causes of degradation.
• Restoration efforts are likely to fail if the sources of degradation persist.
• It is essential to correctly identify the causes of degradation and eliminate or remediate them.
• Understanding a stream’s evolutionary trajectory is relevant to correctly diagnosing the problem, as well as to developing restoration approaches that are likely to be sustainable.
“… understanding the legacy sediment problem is the first step in proposing a fix.”
Bay Journal, March, 2007. Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.
Proposed Restoration
Natural Valley Morphology
Conceptual Design
Typical Existing Conditions
Natural Floodplain, Stream and Riparian Wetland Restoration Best Management Practice
Bedrock
Gravel
Root Zone
Flood Flow
Bank-full Flow
Base FlowRestored Hydric Paleosol
Flood Flow
Legacy Sediment
Bedrock
Gravel
Base Flow Hydric Soils
Existing Root Zone
Bank-full Flow
Modern, inset bar
Hydric Paleosol
Photos Courtesy Franklin & Marshall College
Typical Existing Conditions
Natural ValleyMorphology
9/13/2011
Restoration9/23/2011
Flow Direction
2007 Banta Restoration Site, Lititz Run – Lancaster Co.
Photo Courtesy Franklin & Marshall College
2007 Banta Restoration Site, Lititz Run – Lancaster Co.
Photo Courtesy Franklin & Marshall College
2007 Banta Restoration Site, Lititz Run – Lancaster Co.
2011 Banta Restoration Site, Lititz Run – Lancaster Co.
Big Spring Run Natural Floodplain, Stream and Riparian Wetland Restoration Project
We have assembled a multidisciplinary team of biologists, ecologists, engineers, geomorphologists, geochemists, landowners, restoration practitioners, and construction experts (Hartranft et al,
2011).
USGS 015765195 Big Spring Run near Mylin Corners, PA
Big Spring Run ca. 1930Photo Courtesy Franklin & Marshall College
Funding Partners
PA Department of Environmental Protection
Franklin & Marshall College
US Environmental Protection Agency
US Geological Survey
Joseph V. Sweeney
Chesapeake Bay Commission
Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds
PA Fish and Boat Commission
Lancaster Farmland Trust
Monitoring and Research Partners
Big Spring Run ca. 1930
Franklin and Marshall College
US Geological Survey
US Environmental Protection Agency (ORD & Region III)
PA Department of Environmental Protection
PA Fish and Boat Commission
Johns Hopkins University
Elizabethtown College
Penn State University
Photo Courtesy Franklin & Marshall College
Legacy Sediment Workgroup Collaborator Organizations and Individuals
PA Department of Environmental ProtectionPA Fish and Boat Commission PA Department of Transportation US Environmental Protection AgencyUS Geological SurveyChesapeake Bay CommissionPennsylvania Environmental CouncilFranklin and Marshall CollegePenn State UniversityLafayette CollegeLandstudies Inc.Rettew and AssociatesCDMChesapeake Bay FoundationPA Farm BureauAmerican RiversPA State Association of Township SupervisorsJoseph Sweeney