Soil Bioengineering with
Live Pole Drain System / Riparian Habitat Restoration
SHEEP CREEK PROJECT
Location: Salmo, British Columbia
Client: Ministry of Transportation and Highways
(MOTH)
Objective: To restore stability of the slide
site above the road and stream bank below the road,
while restoring riparian cover and function as relates
to local fish habitat conditions. To stop the annual
spring event of flowing mud over Sheep Creek Road and
reduce sedimentation of Sheep Creek resulting from both
surface and stream erosion at high flow.
Sheep Creek site is located near Salmo, British
Columbia. Terra Erosion Control Ltd., in association
with Forterra Consultants Ltd., was retained by the
Ministry of Transportation and Highways (MOTH) to field
review and make recommendations for stabilization of
a debris slide/earth flow at approximately 5.5 km on
the Sheep Creek public road.
The debris slide and earth flow at the failure site
originally occurred between the fall of 1998 and the
spring of 1999. Prescriptive recommendations for biotechnical
stabilization treatments were completed based on field
review in October 2000 and April 2001. Terra Erosion
Control Ltd. installed stabilizing structures in May
of 2001. The project was carried out as a trial for
the MOTH. Though it was a challenging site for slope
stabilization, the work has to date been successful
in significantly reducing slide and earth flow activity
on site at a cost substantially less than alternative
conventional engineering treatments.
The site was monitored the following
spring of 2002 and repair work was carried out on small
failures that had occurred. The site was visited again
during the summer and fall of 2002 and summer of 2003
and 2004. The site showed fully functioning structures;
live pole drain systems were working well, good overall
growth of the establishing vegetation.
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