Kennebecasis Watershed Restoration Committee
Worth Wading Into
Digger Logs
The KWRC started using digger logs in the summer of 1994 by placing 6 trial structures in Parlee Brook. in following years, digger logs were installed in McLeod Brook, and Ward's Creek. Digger logs work best in small watercourses with either a sandy or silt substrate and in conjunction with a fencing and planting program which rehabilitates the riparian zone at the same time.
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Our summer crews worked hard to install over 165 digger logs on various streams of the Kennebecasis Watershed to date.
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Benefits of Digger Logs:
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1. Increased fish habitat availability.
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2. Increased stream channel stability.
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3. Improved substrate and water conditions for fish including increased dissolved oxygen and lower water temperatures.
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4. Reduces the risk of the formation of ice jams.
A digger log working on McLeod Brook in the Upper Kennebecasis sub-watershed.
Rock Sills
Our first rock sill installation was in Trout Creek in 1995. The intent of these structures is very similar to the digger logs, but can be used in much larger watercourses, narrowing and deepening over widened streams and rivers. Once the rock sills have done their job, and nature has taken over, they tend to blend into the natural surroundings and disappear from view. We now have rock sills on Smith's Creek and the Millstream River as well.
Benefits of Rock Sills:
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1. Increased fish habitat availability.
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2. Increased stream channel stability.
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3. Improved substrate and water conditions for fish including increased dissolved oxygen and lower water temperatures.
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4. Reduces the risk of the formation of ice jams.
Former Project Manager Brent Stanley checks over a rock sill on Trout Creek in 2007
Rock Groynes
Groynes are often thought of as one end of a rock sill. Deflecting or repelling groynes are often used to push water away from severely eroding banks. Sediment often builds up between the groynes where a succession of grasses, bushes and eventually trees grow. Groynes are often installed as part of a bank stabilization effort to further increase fish habitat while controlling stream flow direction and velocity.
They are designed to slow the flow of water and reduce the risk of creating erosion problems downstream. The KWRC and our partners have been able to install 57 rock groyne structures throughout our watershed (2017).
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Benefits of Groynes:
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1. Control flow direction and velocity on hardened stream banks to reduce risk of downstream erosion.
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2. Increase fish habitat.
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3. Increase stream channel stability.
Looking down on a rock groyne installed on McNair Brook.