EROSION CONTROL

A. 125′ log cribbing structure behind private home just southeast of Lobdell Road and Route 9.

B. Pool digger (log crib sides and hemlock plank spillway to create pool habitat for fish) at the end of the Public Fishing Rights access road off Route 9 in New Russia.

C. Log terracing system on a 75′ tall embankment on the Branch. If traveling west on Water St. from Elizabethtown, look to the left just before the bridge and hill leading to Route 9N.

D. Pool digger along the Elizabethtown-Wadhams Rd. Elizabethtown helped haul logs and stone.

E. Bank shaping and willow post project on private property near the Elizabethtown/Lewis border. This project failed, possibly due to 3 major floods within two years immediately after project installation.

F. 180′ log cribbing project on Steele Woods Road where the roadbank/streambank was failing. Logs were cut from the County Forest for the project, and the Town of Lewis moved all the logs and placed the rip rap.=

G. Years of planting seedlings and willow posts on this farm property have failed due to innundation of the farm floodplain yearly and the large ice flows.

H. Willow posts and seedlings helped control erosion on both upstream sides of the bridge leading to private property to the west of the oxbows. Bank shaping and willow posts failed near the Public Fishing Rights access parking lot.

I. 125′ log cribbing structure at the Wadhams cemetery, visible from Route 22 just south of the falls and bridge. The bank at the cemetery, where water and sewer lines cross the river, had badly eroded and are now protected.

J. 300′ of very sandy farm embankment was shaped by machine (which also placed rip rap at the toe area) and bank soil was enveloped in erosion control fabric.

K. The site of BRASS’ first attempt at dormant willow post plantings, a 150′ embankment off Angier Hill Rd. in Whallonsburg. The shaping, seeding, and posts are doing fairly well although the site is damaged nearly yearly by ice.

L. 300′ of sandy bank at this horse farm was shaped by machine. One-third (the outside meander) of the bank was treated to rip rap at the toe, and dormant willow stakes, conservation seed, and erosion control fabric were applied. The project was only partially successful, like on other farm properties where there is no bush or tree roots on the bank to helping bind the soil together.

M. 150′ lob cribbing structure along this farm field with willow posts planted inside the structure. Posts have been battered by ice but are still sending out shoots. The County moved all the stone for the project and repaired the farm land access road. (Best seen from McAuliffe Road, off West Road by the Morehouse bridge.)

N. 150′ log cribbing structure just downstream of the NYSDEC fish ladder, off the road by the old Willsboro School. After the crib and fishermen stairways were built, soil was brought in to restore the black ash (old pulp mill cinder waste) embankment. The Town of Willsboro helped move logs, stone and soil. Westport’s Paul Spooner designed and made the metal fishermen steps to make it easy to get out of the salmon pool. Willsboro’s Bob McShane removes the steps each fall and puts them back again in the spring.

O. 150′ farmland restoration project upstream of the Reber bridge on West Rd. Half the bank was stabilized by a lunker (sturdy oak pallets topped with logs and boulder) to keep the last trees from eroding into the river while improving fish habitat. Large stone was embedded into the other half of the bank by the bridge wing wall, and this area was seeded and planted with bush and tree seedlings.

P. 300′ bank shaping and planting at Whallonsburg property.

Q. 700′ bank shaping, planting, and buffer zone planting on Wadhams farmland.