PA Aquatic Resource Restoration Conference 2026: Past, Present and Future

This presentation will provide context to the use of adaptive design approaches and expand on the current state of the science. As an example, I will provide an overview of the design considerations and remedial activities done on a large-scale floodplain reestablishment project associated with an abandoned mine reclamation project. The project encompasses approximately 4,600 feet of floodplain valley reestablishment encompassing approximately 18 acres. The valley was originally buried under coal waste or culm that during events was heavily eroded and transported into the downstream communities along Good Spring Creek (GSC). A brief discussion of why intervention (aka the problems) was necessary to ensure the success of the original project objectives. 

The work included excavation and placement of additional base level control log structures that were buried below the floodplain surface to prevent and control any accelerated erosion and prevent head cutting of channels along the valley. Approximately 25,000 feet of 18-inch diameter logs were placed across the entire valley at a horizontal spacing based upon 0.5-foot vertical elevation increase. The design approach is intended to provide valley grade control so the stream channel(s) that form can move across the valley and maintain the same channel invert elevation and if erosion occurs it is controlled and prevented from propagating. The surface of the floodplain was then covered in woody debris (treetops and logs) to provide habitat, roughness, and to assist in development of an anabranched channel pattern. No stream channel was constructed; the site is self-evolving through alluvial processes.