The wide-ranging benefits of river restoration projects
River Drau, Austria
Featured video:
Less than six years ago, the second of two dams on the Elwha River, on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, was taken out to provide access for fish to the upper river located in the Olympic National Park. Since then, we have witnessed a remarkable transformation of the river – and of the wildlife that depend on it. Before the dams were installed in the early 1900s, the Elwha produced consistent and robust runs of salmon and steelhead and was a productive fishery. Afterwards, these runs dwindled almost to nothing. In fact, the river’s summer run of steelhead was almost extirpated. But taking out the dams paid immediate dividends for salmon and steelhead, which are now being found throughout the watershed. And summer steelhead, in particular, have staged an amazing comeback. Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, summer steelhead have repopulated the Elwha in numbers unthinkable a few years ago. This film, from renowned filmmaker Shane Anderson, documents the return of summer steelhead to the Elwha, some of the key players who are studying the recovery of salmon and steelhead in this river, and what the Elwha’s recovery can tell us about large-scale river restoration projects in other places. Join Wild Steelheaders United at https://www.wildsteelheaders.org/join…
Woodlands have been working with the West Cumbria Rivers Trust to restore the River Keekle near Whitehaven in Cumbria. It was an open cast coal mine until the early nineties, when the riverbed was lined with plastic in an attempt to keep buried toxic waste out of the river. The river restoration project is now removing this horrible plastic and repairing the river to a more natural state, to prevent flooding and restore the health and biodiversity of the surrounding area. #River # Restoration #Cumbria
This video demonstrates some of the work taking place through the Cumbrian River Restoration Strategy; a partnership project between the Environment Agency, Natural England, South Cumbria Rivers Trust, Eden Rivers Trust and West Cumbria Rivers Trust. The restoration projects are aimed at restoring natural river function to benefit both ecology and flood mitigation targets. Projects include the removal of weirs, embankments, bank reinforcement and the re-meandering of rivers. These pioneering projects have multiple benefits including improvements to fish habitat and migration, together with ‘natural flood risk management’ in the form of reconnecting rivers to their flood plains and ‘slowing the flow’ of flood waters to protect vulnerable communities downstream. For more information, please visit the websites of the partner organisations: Environment Agency: https://www.gov.uk/government/organis… Natural England: https://www.gov.uk/government/organis… South Cumbria Rivers Trust: http://www.scrt.co.uk Eden Rivers Trust: http://www.edenriverstrust.org.uk West Cumbria Rivers Trust: http://westcumbriariverstrust.org/
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United States
Rivers throughout the eastern United States are well-known for their high banks and steep, winding courses. But in 2008 scientists proposed that years of damming rivers had transformed them from marshy streams good at filtering waste, to the pollution chutes they can often be today. In 2011, they removed 22,000 tons of sediment from the banks of a small Pennsylvania stream; its success has since spurred over a dozen similar restoration projects. Watch to learn how researchers forged a new path for shaping rivers by challenging a long-held assumption about river banks in the eastern United States.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUDH2kuNmww
Tales of the San Joaquin presents a contemporary and historical overview of California’s San Joaquin River. For sixty years the river had been completely dried by water diversion for agriculture. After a twenty-year lawsuit, the river is now being restored as a habitat for spawning salmon. This is the story of that river.
The Town of Falmouth, MA is restoring the Coonamessett River. Hundreds of years of industrialization for mills and cranberry farming severely impacted the wetland habitat and the historic herring run. Restoring the river to a more natural state has already had a huge positive impact.
The Kinnickinnic River runs through Milwaukee’s south side, and it drains the most densely-populated watershed in the state of Wisconsin. It was once a natural, tree-lined river before the city expanded onto its banks during the first half of the 20th century.
The Vermilion River represents the single largest Bull Trout spawning stream in more than 100 miles of the mainstem Lower Clark Fork River drainage and is also a stronghold for westslope cutthroat trout. Historically, the river has been impaired by upstream clear-cutting and significant mining activity, which has decreased the stability of this drainage. In 2007, the Kootenai National Forest – Cabinet Ranger District completed a watershed assessment and preliminary restoration plan for the Vermilion River. This document outlines a series of top-down, watershed-wide restoration projects that we are working collaboratively to implement.
The first project was completed in 2012, at Chapel Slide, and rerouted the channel of the mainstem Vermilion River away from a large slide and greatly reduced the amount of sediment input into the river. Post-restoration monitoring of the restoration indicated that there is improved channel stability, successful riparian planting and increased Bull Trout spawning use of this reach.
This film documents the second project implemented on the Vermilion River is the Miners Gulch Stream and Riparian Restoration Project, which restored a degraded segment of stream and floodplain to improve and protect native fish habitat. It is the largest stream restoration project implemented in the Lower Clark Fork watershed so far and involves re-shaping the stream channel, installation of in-stream wood and rock structures, re-construction of the floodplain surface, and aggressive riparian planting program to establish native trees and shrubs in the floodplain. The first phase of this project (stream and floodplain construction) was implemented in the summer of 2016, and the second phase (riparian planting) took place in the summer of 2017.
The Little Wind River is a major tributary to the Wind River, flowing in at approximately river mile 1. Underwood Conservation District sponsored a multi-year restoration project, nearly a decade in the making, working to rehabilitate nearly one mile of the Little Wind impacted by historic logging and associated management, which had greatly simplified both riparian and in-stream habitat. Habitat enhancement work on the Little Wind River has a significant value for steelhead and other anadromous fish in the Wind River system. The Little Wind River Habitat Restoration Project was completed over 4 phases and included design, engineering, and construction for engineered log jams, pools, riffles and spawning glides as in-stream habitat elements, plus side channel reconnection and activation of backwater refugia, passage improvement at the confluence of the Little Wind River and the Wind River, and post-construction site re-vegetation. Accomplishments for the most recent and final phase, completed during Summer 2019, included the helicopter placement of 78 full logs with rootwads and 25 slash bundles placed in the 0.45 mile Phase 4 project reach, creating twelve substantial log jams. Jams were placed atop pre-felled streambank alders and sealed with loose bundles of logging slash. Funding for the Little Wind River Habitat Restoration Project has been provided by Bonneville Power Administration, the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board, via the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board, Clark-Skamania Flyfishers, and Community Salmon Fund.
Documentation of a stream restoration project conducted on the Raritan Inn Stretch of the South Branch of the Raritan River in Hunterdon County, NJ.
Kentucky has a brand new Trout Stream below Wolf Creek Dam. Hatchery Creek was completed in the Winter of 2015 as part of a FILO Project in cooperation with the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife, US Fish & Wildlife Service and The Army Corp of Engineers. News Kentucky Trout Stream Cumberland River tailwater Kentucky Afield hunting fishing Hatchery Creek
Trout Run Creek is considered one of the best naturally reproducing Brown Trout streams in SE Minnesota. However, over the years bank erosion and invasive trees had degraded the overall health of the stream. This video shows how experts from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, MN Trout Unlimited, MN DNR, USFWS, Emmons & Olivier Resources Inc., Outdoor Heritage Fund, Winona SWCD, and the landowners worked together to restore this beautiful stream in the Driftless area of SE Minnesota. Videography by Dan Balluff. For more inforamtion please visit the Minnesota NRCS website at: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/…
Undamming rivers
Featured video:
June 2, 2016 – Conservationists can now point to the largest dam removal project in the U.S. as a success story. The ecosystem of Washington’s Elwha River has been thriving since the removal of its hydroelectric dam system. Recent surveys show dramatic recovery, especially in the near shore at the river’s mouth, where the flow of sediment has created favorable habitat for the salmon population. A new generation of salmon species, some of which are endangered, are now present in the river. Some hope that the restoration of the Elwha River will become a shining example for the removal of dams across the U.S.
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Hemlock Dam was built in the Great Depression to provide water for a work camp in the area. The dam was build on Trout Creek, a tributary of the Wind River, in the Columbia River Gorge.
Snake River Salmon have been trucked, put on barges, diverted up fish ladders—all in the hope that enough would get by four dams to reach their historic habitat in numbers that would assure their future. It’s not working: It’s time to breach the dams and reconnect wild salmon to this important watershed. Learn more at http://www.patagonia.com/new-localism…
Undamming the Hudson River is a short documentary film by National Geographic filmmaker Jon Bowermaster showcasing Riverkeeper’s efforts to restore natural habitat by eliminating obsolete dams throughout the Hudson River Estuary. Undamming the Hudson River was made possible by funding from Patagonia.
A video summary of the August 2017 removal of the Weston Mill Dam on the Millstone River, Somerset County, New Jersey
This film tells the story of The Conservation Fund’s partnership with the Alaska Native Village of Eklutna to remove a deadbeat dam and restore Pacific salmon. For more information visit: https://www.conservationfund.org/proj….
Over 4,000 small dams block Connecticut’s rivers from flowing free. Thanks to the removal of two dams in Southington and Meriden in summer 2016, migratory fish like American shad and river herring can now swim into the upper reaches of the Quinnipiac River for the first time in more than a century. This video shows the August 2016 removal of Clark Brothers Dam from the Quinnipiac River in Southington, Connecticut, which opened 16 miles of blocked river for the first time in 150 years. These dam removals were supported by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program. Produced by Ayla Fox, ShedLight Productions: https://vimeo.com/user6981145
RiverRestoration.org We are experienced river engineers and watershed scientists with a strong stewardship ethic for the river. We apply our technical expertise to find solutions that enhance the social, economic and ecologic values flowing in our rivers.
