Russell Brook Bank Stabilization Project

Before the trout started moving up into the tributaries of the Beaverkill River, the TU Catskills Partnership with design help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service complete a habitat improvement project on Russell Brook. Wayne's Dirt Business, a local contractor, installed 40 large trees along a steep and eroding stream bank. With the root mass intact, the contractor created a 15 foot bankfull bench to help reconnect the stream channel to the adjacent floodplain. The 400 feet of wood will capture sediment and large cobble that historically has eroded from the steep bank into the brook. The installation of the structure will improve water quality for trout, reducing large cobble from being transported downstream while creating a diversity of habitat along the structure itself. In addition to the 400 feet of bank stabilized with the wood structure, two boulder vanes were installed upstream to help redirect flows away from the bank.

The Catskill Partnership is an amalgamation of local TU chapter members dedicated to the conservation and restoration of fisheries resource in the Upper Delaware River. The Millennium Stream Improvement Fund financed this project. Interested in learning more about the Millennium Stream Improvement Project? Check out http://www.tu.org/tu-projects/catskill-stream-improvement. (Photo Dave Plummer)