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CANCELLED: Live Stake Installation Highland Heights

CANCELLED: Live Stake Installation Highland Heights

When: November 22 from 10:00am - 12:00pm
Where: Highland Heights Community Park, 5905 Wilson Mills Rd Highland Heights, Ohio 44143 map this

Volunteers will assist in the installation of live stakes along eroding streambanks in Highland Heights Dusty Goldenrod Preserve (located behind the Highland Heights Community Park). The project will result in a streambank bioengineering demonstration site.

Landowners with eroding steambanks are encouraged to attend to learn sustainable streambank stabilization techniques.

Weather pending the event will be from 10 am to 12 pm. Rain Date: November 27th 1-3pm

Pre-registration is required. Registration can be completed online (see below) or by contacting Watershed Program Manager Elizabeth Hiser at ehiser@cuyahogaswcd.org or 216-524-6580 x1002.

This event will be limited to two groups of 10. Each group will be working on a seperate stream. Social distancing and masks will be in place.

Long sleeves, long plants, and closed toed shoes that you don't mind getting muddy are advised. We will be working in and around water. We will have mallets and rebar on hand to help make the pilot holes for the live stakes.

Plants generously provided by the Western Reserve Land Conservancy-Dominion Energy Mini-Grant Program through a 2019 grant agreement with Friends of Euclid Creek.

What is bioengineering?

In order to address streambank erosion, landowners typically utilize "hard engineering" solutions such as concrete walls, rip-rap or gabion baskets. While these approaches usually succeed to halt streambank erosion at the site, they tend to deflect the stream's energy downstream, essentially moving the erosion problem to another location. They also create poor habitat conditions for aquatic life, including fish, amphibians and aquatic insects.

In contrast, bio-engineering techniques utilize natural woody vegetation to stabilize eroding streambanks. The roots anchor the soil in place as they develop, and the stems and leaves protect the streambank soil from the energy of flowing water, while actively reducing the near-bank stream velocity and enhancing in-stream and streamside habitat.

The demonstration site established through this project will include installations of live stakes and live fascines.

Live stakes are dormant, live woody cuttings of a species with the branches trimmed off. Live staking performs an important function in creating a root mat that stabilizes the soil by reinforcing and binding soil particles together. Stake establishment also provides habitat for wildlife.

Live fascines are living branches bound together in long tubular bundles. When placed in shallow trenches at the toe and across the slope of a streambank, these structures provide protection from erosion and create a sediment trap. This material provides immediate bank support even prior to root growth. Once established, this living root material grows into a living fence-like erosion barrier. Within one growing season, roots and shoots grow along the entire length of the structure, quickly stabilizing the bank.

Native woody shrub and tree species are utilized in these techniques, including various willows, dogwoods, sycamore, button bush and elderberry.

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