The City of Auburn Storm Drain Marker Program was initiated in 2007 as an effort to educate the citizens of Auburn about the City’s MuncipalSeparate Storm Sewer System and its connection to surrounding waterbodies. The Storm Drain Marker Kits allow individuals or small groups to participate in this unique program on their own schedule and at locations of their choice. Each kit contains everything necessary to mark a small number of storm drains, including:
  1)Storm drain markers specific to your desired area and target

      watershed
  2)Adhesive to secure markers to storm drain inlet
  3)Informational door hangers
  4)Wire cleaning brush and marker for map
  5)Custom map showing existing storm drains in your desired area

      of participation
  6)Installation instructions and surrounding water resource facts

**If you have any questions about howto obtain these kits orwould like to organize a Storm Drain Marking event, please contact Matt Dunn or Daniel Ballard at the City of Auburn Water Resource Management Department at (334) 501-3060 or email dballard@auburnalabama.org

Click here to see the City’s Storm Drain Marker flyer

Cliff Webber, retired AU Fisheries researcher and Save Our Saugahatchee volunteer monitor, and Eric Reutebuch, SWaMP project coordinator, met Opelika Middle School (OMS) 7th and 8th grade students in Opelika Municipal Park to conduct stream biomonitoring of Rocky Brook Creek following the Alabama Water Watch protocol on September 17, 2009. With assistance from a SWaMP grant, students have been monitoring the stream for the past two years. The grant provided funds for OMS science teachers to purchase stream sampling equipment and educational supplies, and SWaMP personnel from the AU Fisheries Department and Save Our Saugahatchee (SOS) volunteers provided technical assistance. About 150 students from Ruth Meadow’s, Kristin Medina’s and Casey Brown’s science classes have participated in the stream biomonitoring.

Click here for more pictures

This year, the students collected a wealth of aquatic critters from the creek, including dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, water pennies, caddisfly larvae, crane fly larvae, aquatic worms, crayfish and a salamander.  The stream life was noticeably lacking mayfly and stonefly nymphs, which indicated that the stream was suffering from some pollution. Overall, the Rocky Brook aquatic community contained a diverse group of 20 species, and ranked as “Good”.

 Some of the critters the students found

The students plan to post their findings on two educational kiosks located along the stream, one in the municipal park, and one downstream near the tennis complex. They plan to continue their stream monitoring, and work on restoring the stream banks by planting vegetation along the stream to improve overall stream health. The next time you visit the park, be sure to take a look at all the good the things the students have achieved!

Check out OMS student acheivements at the educational kiosks

The Saugahatchee Watershed Management Plan (SWaMP) has recently funded a project at the Cary Woods Elementary School, Respect, Replace and Restore- the 3 R’s of Cary Woods Elementary Outdoor Environment Project- educating all to preserve our environment- a school and community effort, to SWaMP for funding. The school is located in Auburn at 715 Sanders Street. Partners and advisors in the project include Debbie Brooks, Principal of Carry Woods Elementary School, Eric Reutebuch and Wendy Seesock, SWaMP Co-coordinators, Matt Dunn and Dan Ballard, City of Auburn Water Resources, Eve Brantley, ACES Watershed Program Specialist, Scott Kubiszyn of Nature’s Tap, and Corey O’Steen of Creative Habitats.  The multi-faceted project involves environmental education, runoff management, rainwater harvest and community outreach.

       Students learn stream bioassessment (video)

Strengthening environmental education through Exploring Alabama’s Living Streams curriculum.

Cary Woods science teachers will receive training in the Living Streams curriculum and be certified in water chemistry and bacteriological monitoring this summer by the Alabama Water Watch Program at Auburn University. Through the SWaMP grant, the school is acquiring the necessary resources and supplies for curriculum development and water testing including Enviroscapes, references books, water test kits, and kick nets for collecting aquatic fauna. Cary Woods science teachers and their students plan to team up with local AWW-certified volunteer water monitors from Save Our Saugahatchee (SOS) and Friends of Chewacla-Uphapee Watershed (CHEWUP) to conduct chemical and biological water testing in the Cary Woods Stream, a tributary of Saugahatchee Creek.

                   Stream Sampling Photo Gallery

Runoff Management. A large rain garden has been installed by Creative Habitats in front of the school to intercept and infiltrate stormwater runoff from school grounds before it enters storm drains. The rain garden reduces nonpoint source nutrient and sediment loading into Saugahatchee Creek, and is an excellent demonstration for stormwater management for the entire community.

Rainwater harvest. Two large rain tanks (620 gallon and 1,110 gallon Bushman tanks) have been installed by Natures Tap out of Birmingham, one next to the school garden plots, and a larger one between the old and new school buildings. Both tanks have integrated pump systems that enable watering of the school garden plots, shrubs and school landscape from runoff from the school’s rooftops. Capturing the first flush off rooftops in rain tanks decreases the runoff from impervious surfaces (rooftops) and uses stormwater for watering the landscape instead of potable water. These systems not only conserve valuable potable water, but also serve as highly visible water-conservation demonstrations to the community.

                  Rainwater Harvest Photo Gallery

Community fair. Teachers and students plan to conduct a ‘Respect, Replace and Restore – the 3 R’s of Cary Woods Elementary Outdoor Environment Project’ Community Fair to inform the general public about  water conservation, nonpoint source pollution and how to reduce it, and the benefits of bioretention and rainwater harvesting as BMPs for reducing nutrient and sediment flow into local streams. The students will conduct the fair and educate the community by developing pamphlets, tri-boards, videos, photos; and demonstrate the effectiveness and usefulness of controlling stormwater runoff with bioretention areas, harvesting rainwater, water quality testing, and demonstrate the Enviroscape. The fair will occur during a school day and the public will be invited.

Water conservation practices such as rain harvest and rain gardens assist in the natural filtering of storm water by soil, replenish soil water storage, and decrease the use of valuable drinking water to maintain landscapes.  As Alabama and the Saugahatchee Watershed continue to experience drought conditions and increasing demand for water, the need to conserve potable water will only grow in importance.  The Cary Woods project is a shining example of conservation and stewardship for the entire community – go have a look!

SWaMP was a proud sponsor of the Forest Land Best Management Practices Workshop conducted in early April in partnership with the Lee County Forestry Stewardship Committee, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, MeadWestvaco, the Alabama Forestry Commission, the AU School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. About 40 landowners from Lee County attended the workshop for presentations and a tour of forest Best Management Practices (BMPs) at the Mary Olive Thomas Demonstration Forest south of Auburn on Moores Mill Road.     The purpose of the workshop was to educate owners of forest lands, and associated stakeholders about Alabama’s Forestry BMPs, which were designed to reduce sediment or other nonpoint source pollution to streams and lakes. Workshop attendees received CEUs from Auburn University for attending.

                             more pictures

Ericha Shelton-Nix, Wildlife Biologist with the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, registered everyone and handed out workshop packets containing the workshop agenda, copies of the Alabama Forestry Commission’s Alabama’s Best Management Practices for Forestry, the Alabama Clean Water Partnerships Protecting Our Waters – The Tallapoosa River Basin (newspaper inserts), the Alabama Water Watch’s Saugahatchee Creek Watershed – Past, Present and Future, and SWaMP trifold brochures.

Eric Reutebuch, SWaMP Co-coordinator, began the workshop with a presentation titled Landscapes, Watersheds and Water Quality – What are the Connections?. Eric emphasized that the main goal of SWaMP was to clean up the creek through outreach efforts and funding of on-the-ground BMPs that would reduce/intercept pollution flushing off the landscape. He said that phosphorus, along with sediment, is the main pollutant of concern in the creek, and is the reason why the creek is listed as impaired by the state’s environmental management agency, ADEM. Eric referred participants to the SWaMP brochure, explaining that SWaMP, an ADEM-funded 319 project, is the implementation of the first three years of the Saugahatchee Watershed Management Plan. Compilation of the Plan and its implementation have been a combined effort of many local watershed stakeholders including local government, business/industry, resource management agencies, and community groups. Eric then gave brief descriptions of eight on-the-ground projects which included stream restorations, rainwater harvest, a constructed wetland, rain garden construction, a community rain barrel workshop and a landscaper-lawn professional workshop. He mentioned the many SWaMP education/outreach efforts around the Saugahatchee Watershed to inform watershed residents about recent, dramatic changes in the Auburn-Opelika area and how these landscape changes can negatively impact water quality of local streams, ponds and lakes. He gave examples of urban sources and rural sources of nonpoint source pollution, how these pollutants affect local waters, and how we can fix the pollution sources with the installation of proper BMPs. He closed by requesting workshop participants that have degraded lands in the Saugahatchee Watershed that are contributing sediments and nutrients to tributaries or directly to the Saugahatchee to contact SWaMP coordinators for help in resolving these nonpoint source pollution sources.

                      View presentation

The participants then loaded up into wagons and went into the forest to the first stop. John Torbert, Forest Manager with MeadWestvaco, gave a talk on proper forest management to minimize impacts on stream water quality. John described several forest management BMPs that, when implemented properly, would prevent soil erosion and sediment transport into streams, ponds and lakes. He added that these BMPs were required to maintain certification by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI, go to www.sfiprogram.org for more information). SFI is a program that certifies, through independent third-party audits, that forest management meets rigorous SFI standards that protect soil and stream water quality.  He pointed out that clearcut harvesting, when done properly, seldom leads to erosion because there is seldom a lot of bare soil created in the process.  Organic matter such leaf litter, branches and fine twigs cover the ground during and immediately after the harvest, and a nearly 100% cover of woody and herbaceous vegetation quickly resprouts after logging. Furthermore, Alabama State Forestry BMPs require streamside management zones (SMZs, or stream riparian buffers) of at least 35 feet on each side of stream to provide a barrier against any overland flow that might occur. He added that the potential for erosion from logging is generally associated with roads and skid trails, and accordingly a number of BMPs are deployed to reduce erosion from these sources. John closed by saying that he has rarely seen stream water quality problems caused by forest harvest practices.  In his opinion, unpaved county roads, not forest clearcuts, are the main contributors of sediment in rural Lee County. He said that there are many unpaved county roads that have long stretches of ditches on both sides of the road that transport lots of sediment directly into streams during runoff events

The participants continued on to the second stop of the tour. Andy Guy, the Alabama Forestry Commission’s Lee County Forester, spoke about the development of forestry BMPs and development of the Alabama’s Best Management Practices for Forestry manual. The manual was developed by the Commission and ADEM to instruct private land owners and the forestry industry on the use of BMPs for the sustained management of forest lands and protection of surface waters draining those lands. He indicated that forestry BMPs are for the prevention of water quality problems, and that there is a possibility of water quality problems even if proper BMPs are installed.

Andy continued by describing the Commission’s state-wide forest inspection program. He said that the Commission conducts fly-overs of harvested forest lands all over the state and does random on-the-ground spot inspections in harvested areas to check for proper installation of BMPs. This past year, he said the Commission conducted 246 ground checks. Jim Jeter, Management Specialist with the Commission, indicated that the most common violation is infringement into stream SMZs during forest harvest.  Jim explained that SMZs are variable, with a minimum of 35 feet on either side of a stream and increasing in width as the slope of the land increases. Andy concluded by saying that the Commission can advise landowners, at their request, on proper forest land BMPs before the landowner has trees harvested.

At the third stop, Dr. Robert Tufts, professor in the AU School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences continued the discussion on forest land BMPs for roads and stream crossings. He indicated that most water quality problems associated with stream crossings actually come from the sloped road leading down to the stream crossing. He said that roads should be planned so that they are not near streams (routed on ridge tops as much as possible) except for at the crossing, and cut across slopes instead of straight up slopes so that they aren’t too steep. Dr. Tufts said that the erosive power of water in runoff comes from the product of mass and velocity, therefore, one minimizes erosion by slowing the runoff down. This is accomplished by minimizing the road’s slope (kept to a six percent maximum slope to minimize erosion), sloping the road’s surface so that water sheet-flows off the side of the road instead of channelizing straight down the road, and installation of water bars every 50-100 feet to slow and divert runoff, and effectively dissipate the erosive force of runoff. Skid trails should not run straight up and down slopes, and they should also be water barred and covered with brush after logging to cover bare soil and dissipate energy of runoff.

Dr. Tufts then discussed the three types of road crossings – fords, culverts and bridges. He said to be cautious of installing bridges in certain situations because of liability issues associated with bridge collapses. Fords generally have an advantage over culverts because they won’t blow out. Culverts have a tendency to blow out when a large rainfall/runoff event occurs and the culvert is topped with water.  He recommended landowners that do install culverts to put a spillway in the road near the culvert to handle excess flow during a large flood event and prevent culvert failure. He referred workshop participants to the Alabama Forestry Commission’s publication Alabama’s Best Management Practices for Forestry for additional information.

At the final stop of the workshop, all enjoyed a fine barbecue dinner catered by The Barbecue House. Workshop partners plan to conduct another Forest Land BMP Workshop in the fall – check the SWaMP website for updates.

SWaMP and Save Our Saugahatchee (S.O.S) sponsored a presentation, Alternative sources of water… A better approach, by Scott Kubiszyn, founder of Nature’s Tap, on February 19th in Comer Hall on the AU campus. Mr. Kubiszyn discussed water conservation, how citizens can be part of the solution, and how Nature’s Tap can assist them. While many parts of the country and the world have an approaching water crisis, we have shunned centuries-old and natural practices of collecting water and using it at the source. In the process we are damaging our watersheds, stealing from our water tables, consuming tremendous amounts of energy, and using unnecessary resources. Scott presented practical solutions and new technologies that are emerging to capture rainwater and stormwater, and reuse greywater as alternative sources of water for our non-potable needs. He also discussed his plans with a local school, Cary Woods Elementary School, to install a rainwater harvesting system. This SWaMP-funded project will act as a community demonstration site, while reducing the school’s dependence on potable water, and reducing runoff and nonpoint source pollution into the creek that runs behind the school and into the Saugahatchee.  

Click here to view Powerpoint presentation

Click here to view video of the talk

(computer-generated rendering of rain garden - complements of Corey O’steen, Creative Habitats, Auburn, AL)

SWaMP (the Saugahatchee Watershed Management Plan) partnered with the Lee County Business Partners for Clean Water (LCBPFCW), the Alabama Clean Water Partnership (ALCWP) and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES) in a Landscape and Lawn Professional Workshop on February 10th at the Moores Mill Golf Club in Auburn. The workshop was organized by Ellen Huckabay, the LCBPFCW coordinator, and Allison Jenkins, the ALCWP statewide coordinator, and funded by a 319 grant from ADEM to restore Moores Mill Creek, and contributions from the ADEM-funded SWaMP project. The venue and lunch were provided by the Moores Mill Golf Club.

The target audience for this workshop consisted of all licensed applicators of fertilizer and lawn chemicals in Lee County. Eighteen landscapers and lawn care professionals, representing fourteen local landscape-lawn care businesses, attended the half-day workshop. The workshop touched on primary nonpoint source pollutants in local watersheds, pollutants potential water quality impacts of improper application of fertilizers and lawn chemicals, methods of sediment control from disturbed lands, storm water retention, and what the Lee County Business Partners for Clean Water is all about and how to become a certified member (click here for agenda).

Eric Reutebuch, SWaMP Co-coordinator, gave a presentation titled Landscape and Stream Water Quality Connections in a Watershed. Eric started by defining a watershed, and the five local watersheds, the Saugahatchee, Chewacla, Uphapee, Halawakee and Little Uchee, that the cities of Auburn and Opelika occupy. He requested that the audience fill out a form identifying the watersheds that they work in. Land cover maps of the whole Saugahatchee Watershed for 1993 and 2001 showing the rapid changes in the upper headwaters of the five watersheds were presented. Changes consisted mainly of conversion of rural forest and pasturelands to a doubling of land area occupied by urban/suburban developments during the eight-year timeframe.

Eric continued by identifying land-based pollutants, known as nonpoint source (NPS) pollutants, that flush into local streams during significant rainfall-runoff events. NPS categories include both urban and rural runoff containing nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen), sediment, pathogens, pesticides, herbicides, grease and oil. Eric pointed out the nutrients, particularly phosphorus, are the primary pollutants in Saugahatchee Creek, and sediments and pathogens are the primary pollutants in Chewacla Creek, according to the 2008 ADEM 303(d) List of Impaired Streams. He said that according to a 2001-02 study of the Saugahatchee Watershed (Bayne et al. 2004), the majority of nonpoint source phosphorus was coming from urban-suburban areas, which contributed about three times more NPS phosphorus than the rural, mostly forested lands, see figure below.

Click here to see whole presentation

Eric indicated that the excess nutrients flushing off of urban-suburban landscapes were a significant part of why a segment of the Saugahatchee is on the state’s list of polluted streams (an undesirable distinction for our local community). He said that these excess nutrients, primarily phosphorus, were causing accelerated eutrophication in the creek where it enters Yates Lake. This eutrophication is manifested by production of nuisance algae blooms that can appear as very green water or green/brown/black floating mats of algae, both of which can cause major problems with fishing, boating swimming and potable water treatment. Other NPS problems discussed included sediments, contaminants (including pathogens, motor oil, pesticides, herbicides, household chemicals), and excessive amounts of water from impervious surfaces (parking lots, roofs, etc.) flushing into local streams.

Eric closed with defining the SWaMP project and its goals, the primary goal being to reduce the amount of NPS pollution, particularly phosphorus, from flushing into Saugahatchee Creek. He discussed SWaMP outreach efforts and several of SWaMP’s on-the-ground projects designed to intercept NPS pollution before it gets to the creek, including rain gardens, rain barrels, stream bank and stream channel restoration projects.

The audience learned that some lawns don’t need any phosphorus, and that no-phosphorus fertilizers are locally available (Lowes donated a bag for us to demonstrate). In fact, on land with adequate phosphorus, adding additional phosphorus can actually be detrimental to your plants as well as to the creek. SWaMP hopes that attendees of the Landscape and Lawn Professional Workshop will promote judicious and proper application of phosphorus to urban/suburban landscapes, since these landscapes are contributing to the pollution load flushing into the creek. Look for the Lee County Business Partners for Clean Water logo at landscape businesses that have participated in the workshop and are committed to environmentally friendly landscape and lawn care practices. Future workshops are being planned to educate builders, developers and homeowners on the health of our local streams and how we all can be part of the solution.

Wendy Seesock and Eric Reutebuch gave a presentation on SWaMP to the Lee County Forestry Stewardship Committee during their meeting at the Lee County Extension Office in Opelika. They distributed SWaMP brochures and the Saugahatchee publication to the group and discussed the formation of the SWaMP stakeholder group and the development of the Saugahatchee Watershed Management Plan. They emphasized that the main goal of SWaMP was to clean up the creek through outreach efforts and funding of on-the-ground BMPs that would reduce/intercept pollution flushing off the landscape. They showed the group a map of the watershed that indicated the amount of nonpoint source pollution in the form of phosphorus flushing into the Saugahatchee was three times higher in urban/suburban sub-watersheds than from rural, mostly forested (with some pastureland) sub-watersheds. Wendy emphasized that phosphorus, along with sediment, is the main pollutant of concern in the creek, and is the reason why the creek is listed as impaired by the state’s environmental management agency, ADEM.

Read more in Chuck Browne’s O-A News article

They then showed the group a poster illustrating SWaMP outreach efforts and some of the SWaMP-funded on-the-ground projects. Projects thus far include a stream restoration on the Saugahatchee in Auburn, a rain catchment system at an Opelika school, a constructed wetland at an Auburn subdivision, an education and stream restoration project at Opelika Middle School, and a stream restoration of a Saugahatchee tributary at Ashton Lakes subdivision.

They concluded with a discussion on organizing a forest management workshop in partnership with the Committee. The purpose of the workshop would be to educate owners of forest lands, forest harvesters, and others on proper forest management techniques and BMPs that mitigate nutrient and sediment nonpoint source pollution to streams and lakes.

The group has set the date for the workshop as April 9, 4:00-7:30 PM. Mathew Smidt, AU Forestry Extension Specialist Associate Professor, said that CEUs would be available for workshop attendees.

If you are a landowner in Lee County (or surrounding counties), this workshop is for you! Come and join us for the Forest Land Best Management Practices (BMP) Workshop (agenda attached) on April 9, 2009 at the Mary Olive Thomas Demonstration Forest, Auburn, Alabama.

Call the Lee County Extension Office at 334-749-3353 to register for the workshop and dinner by 4/6/09.

Click here for the workshop agenda

The Rain Catchers is a group of Auburn-area folks committed to community water conservation and environmental education. The group was organized this past fall by Tia Gonzales, an Alabama Cooperative Extension employee working with Eve Brantley at Auburn University. Eve and Tia submitted a proposal to SWaMP for the promotion of rain barrels in the Saugahatchee Watershed through the development of a rain barrel how-to manual and a series of workshops to train area residents how to construct and operate their own rain barrels. Workshops would also include discussion of the benefits of increasing onsite retention and infiltration of rainfall and reducing nonpoint source pollution, versus allowing rainfall to flow offsite as stormwater runoff into storm drains and local streams.

SWaMP approved the proposal for funding and anticipates dual benefits of potable water conservation (residents that use water from rain barrels on their yards and gardens will use less water from their faucets) and reduced stormwater runoff and associated pollutants (lawn fertilizers, pet waste) flushing into Saugahatchee Creek. 

Click here for more pictures

About 30 Rain Catchers attended a rain barrel construction workshop organized by Tia at the AU School of Forestry on November 21st. Wendy Smith from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) started the workshop with an overview of the WWF South Eastern Rivers and Streams Program, which has actively supported conservation/preservation efforts in the Tallapoosa Basin (including watershed-level bacteria ‘blitz’ sampling by citizen volunteer monitoring groups SOS and CHEWUP, and support of Alabama Water Watch statewide volunteer monitoring efforts). Wendy stated that the goal of WWF is to conserve 19 of the world’s most diverse places, one of which is the aquatic ecosystem of the south eastern rivers and streams (which has the third-highest aquatic biodiversity on the planet, surpassed only by the Amazon and the Mekong basins). She added that WWF is partnering with Coke on water conservation, reuse and efficiency, and innovative stormwater practices including promotion of rain barrels. She introduced Jeff Herndon, Coke representative from Montgomery, who has agreed to supply the Rain Catchers with plastic 55-gallon barrels from Coke – thank you Coke! Wendy concluded by suggesting that we all start thinking of stormwater as a resource, available for harvest and use, instead of as a problem.

Ashley Henderson followed Wendy with a discussion of her efforts in reducing nonpoint source pollution working as Basin Facilitator with the Alabama-Tombigbee Clean Water Partnership. She said that she plans to take lessons learned in Auburn and promote a community rain barrel project in the Montgomery area. Eric Reutebuch followed Ashley with a brief overview of the Saugahatchee Watershed Management Plan, SWaMP, indicating that installation of infiltration-promoting BMPs such as rain barrels and rain gardens reduce nonpoint source pollution loading into streams, which is SWaMP’s primary goal.

Then it was time to get to work – Tia and Eve directed the group to their barrels, and all began construction of a rain barrel. Steps included drilling two holes in the plastic barrels – one at the bottom for installation of a spigot, and one near the top for an overflow hose fitting. The final step involved cutting a hole in the top of the barrel and covering it with window screen to allow rooftop rainfall into the barrel from a downspout, and to keep mosquitoes out. Construction methods and materials will be refined for compilation of a rain barrel how-to manual, and for community rain barrel workshops to be conducted in early 2009. Stay tuned, and we hope to see you this coming spring at a Rain Catcher workshop!

The Saugahatchee Watershed Management Plan (SWaMP) was featured in a 16-page newspaper insert that was pulled together by Allison Jenkins, Statewide Coordinator of the Alabama Clean Water Partnership. Allison successfully brought together funds and services from 21 organizations to make the inserts a reality - great job Allison (partners are listed on page 2 of the inserts).

Click here for whole insert as pdf, 10.4 megabites

Content of the inserts includes maps of the Tallapoosa River and its lakes, Wedowee, Martin, Yates and Thurlow; sources of pollution to the Tallapoosa; ways that we all can reduce pollution of our streams, rivers and lakes; water uses in the Tallapoosa Basin; in-depth features on the Upper, Middle and Lower Tallapoosa basins; and a section featuring on-the-ground activities for watershed protection and water quality improvements. Take a look and see how you can get involved in protecting waters of the Tallapoosa Basin. Be sure to clip the coupon on page 6 and send it in for your FREE water conservation kit (also available online at www.cleanwaterpartnership.org/request-kit)!

A couple dozen folks gathered at a tributary of the Saugahatchee in early October to take a tour of an ongoing stream restoration project that SWaMP is partnering on, along with Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, Inc. (GMC), Conner Brothers Construction Company, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and Auburn University. The crowd included people from Save Our Saugahatchee, Inc., Auburn University Water Resources Center, Saugahatchee Watershed Management Plan, Erosion Pros, LLC, Cahaba River Mitigation, LLC, Alabama Water Watch, Alabama-Tombigbee Clean Water Partnership, Hydro-Engineering Solutions, North-central Alabama Regional Council of Governments, Auburn-area landscapers, and the Opelika-Auburn News. The tributary drains US Highway 280 on its north side and the Ashton Park subdivision on its south side.

After a hike down to Saugahatchee Creek, Jof Mehaffey, an ecologist with GMC, welcomed everyone to the stream restoration tour. He explained that the restoration project was made possible through a partnership of GMC, Conner Brothers Construction, SWaMP, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES). Through the partnership, about 1,500 feet of the tributary is being restored. Restoration involves the excavation of a new stream channel separate from the original channel.

He pointed out that the original channel had become deeply ‘incised’ (about eight feet deep) because of straightening and land-use alterations, and looked like a deep gully. Once a stream becomes incised, it will continue to erode its bottom and sides, transporting sediment, nutrients and organic matter downstream, since all of its energy is confined in narrow, deep channel.

Pre-restorationl incised channel  

William McLemore and Galen Thackston, engineers with GMC, explained how they surveyed a new channel, based on dimensions and characteristics of a relatively ‘pristine’ stream that they measured in the Tuskegee National Forest. This ‘pristine’ stream was used as a template for laying out a new channel for restoration. The new channel exhibits characteristics of a stable stream including a shallow channel connected to a much broader floodplain. The new channel is only about a foot deep, while the floodplain spreads out 30 to 50 feet on either side of the channel.

Gary Brown, an environmental engineer with GMC, described the erosion control measures employed during new channel construction. He pointed out the coir (coconut) fiber matting that covered the slopes of the new floodplain down to the new channel, held in place by wooden ‘eco-stakes’. This matting stabilizes the bare slopes, preventing soil erosion until vegetation is established. He said that rye grass and switch grass are seeded on the new slopes, and that these grasses help hold the soil until natural vegetation gets reestablished. Exotic vegetation, such as Chinese Privet and Mimosa, are eliminated by spot spraying.

Greg Jennings, Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) at North Carolina State University, a licensed engineer and water quality specialist who teaches classes for BAE’s Stream Restoration Program, is a consultant on the project. Greg reiterated the benefits of restoring a stream to its natural, stable form. He said that because of the low gradient of this project (only two feet of drop over 1,800 feet of stream length), the new channel and floodplain will function much like a wetland in purifying polluted runoff from residential lawns and from Highway 280. Greg emphasized that anytime natural design techniques can be employed to repair damaged streams (versus stone riprap or concrete structures) the cost is less, the repair will last much longer, and the results are much more aesthetically pleasing.

Eve Brantley, ACES Water Quality Specialist and tour organizer, discussed the physical and water quality benefits of reconnecting a stream channel with its floodplain. Eve explained that unlike a deeply incised ‘gully-type’ channel, a shallow channel with its associated floodplain allows floodwaters to overflow its banks during heavy rainfall-runoff events. Once floodwaters spread out over the floodplain, the current slows and the water’s erosive energy is greatly dissipated. As a result of this slow current, sediment and associated nutrients and organic matter settle out of the water and are deposited on the floodplain instead of downstream (i.e., into Saugahatchee Creek). This results in improved water quality downstream. Eve said that the restoration project will continue to be a valuable outreach and demonstration site for future workshops and tours to educate the public on stream restoration, water pollution control, and linkages between management of the landscape in a watershed and stream water quality (see Eve’s website for information on stream restoration: www.aces.edu/waterquality  , click on the Watershed Restoration link, and lots of other water information).