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 in relation 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 the 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 the
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 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 the summer of
2003, 2004 and 2005. The site showed fully functioning
structures, live pole drain systems were working well
and there was good overall growth of the establishing
vegetation.
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