Please join us for a day-long guided tour of recently constructed stream restoration projects in the Northern Virginia area on Thursday, May 2nd! This will be a great opportunity to learn about current stream restoration practices and challenges while also connecting with fellow SER members! Site descriptions of the projects and some project photos are provided below. A happy hour event will be held at the end of the day starting at 5:00 pm at Auld Shebeen Pub at 3971 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, VA 22030.
Please click here and complete the Google Form to register for the field trip by April 24, 2024. Once registered, you will be contacted approximately 1 week before the trip to submit a payment to SER Mid-Atlantic via PayPal. Registration fees are $50 for members and $65 for non-members of the chapter.
Box lunches are included in the registration fee and will be provided during the field trip. Please indicate any dietary restrictions on your registration form!
A hotel block has been reserved for the group for the nights of May 1st and May 2nd at the Holiday Inn Express Fairfax – Arlington Boulevard: 10327 Fairfax Boulevard, Fairfax, VA 22030. You can book your hotel room using the reserved block by clicking here! If you have issues registering online, call 1-703-359-2888 and ask for the Society for Ecological Restoration rate. The group code is SER. The cut-off date for the hotel block will be April 8, 2024.
A charter bus has been reserved for transportation from the hotel to each of the sites. The bus will leave the hotel at 8:30 a.m. on the day of the field trip. The bus has a capacity of 56 persons and seats will be allotted on a first come, first serve basis.
This event has been pre-approved for 5 Continuing Education Credits for CERP/CERPIT!
Please contact Robert Wachter via email (robert.wachter@wsp.com) with any questions or concerns.
Donaldson Run Tributary B Stream Restoration
Completed in June 2021, this project repaired ~1,400 linear feet of urban stream that flows through a neighborhood park in Arlington County. The Natural Channel Design approach seeks to achieve long-term stream stability, infrastructure protection, erosion prevention, and riparian buffer improvement, while overcoming the challenges of working in the steep and narrowly constrained stream valley. The project protects a large water main that runs parallel to the stream and had become threatened by stream erosion. The project also helps preserve the lower reaches of the adjoining 2006 Donaldson Run Tributary A stream restoration, which had filled in over the years from sediment washing down from Tributary B. Some of these sediment deposits are currently being removed from the Tributary A channel as a maintenance project.
Hollin Hills Stream Restoration
Hollin Hills, a private community in Alexandria, had identified persistent and worsening conditions from mid-century stormwater eroding a 12+ foot chasm into their community parkland, Charles Goodman Park. Previous attempts to combat the erosion had failed, including throwing brush in the crevasse, and/or installing check dams. Given the slope, the best option repaired and extended the storm pipe, installing three drop structures before the outlet reached the stream. Mid-century stormwater best practices allowed undetained and untreated stormwater to reach the “riparian area” created steady erosion forces that, when hitting the marine clay containing unstable soils, created catastrophic soil loss. Less deep, but still eroding banks between the outfall and the main stem of Paul Spring creek were also addressed with a natural channel design approach, complicated by aging utilities, a street crossing and a vocal, but small, community group who sued their civic association to prevent the project from going forward. Fairfax County’s unique approach to restoration projects also treated an overwhelming English ivy infestation and focused on creating functional forest habitat by protecting trees, leaving snags and establishing woody debris habitat logs along with mini forest buffers.
Accotink Creek Stream Restoration at Wakefield Park
This project was substantially completed in November 2021. It restored, enhanced, and stabilized approximately 4,900 linear feet of stream channel through the installation of four Newbury Riffles within the main channel of Accotink Creek and one Newbury Riffle within a side channel to provide aquatic benefits, grade control, improve water quality, and prevent further erosion.
Rabbits Branch Stream Restoration at Collingham Drive
This 5,000 linear foot project in Fairfax County’s Pohick Creek watershed exemplifies the County’s strategic approach to natural channel design, which preserves high quality existing habitat, provides enhanced floodplain connection, channel protection and stability, and includes a significant investment in invasive species control and riparian restoration. The tour will explore design and construction of this unique project which was substantially completed in October 2023.