Schenck's Island Conifer Revetment
October 18, 2008
The Mianus Chapter recently completed the fourth year of conifer revetments at a site at Schenck's Island on the Norwalk River in Wilton Center. Conifer
revetments are engineered stream enhancements used to reduce the amount
of silt in a stretch of river, narrow the stream channel, deepen the
water level and improve trout habitat. A number of pine trees are
anchored into the river bank using cable and rope. Over the course of
several years, the limbs of the trees will capture debris and silt
floating downstream, eventually firming up as a hardened river bank. At this site, the stream channel has already been narrowed by approximately 10 feet.
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School Road Conifer Revetment
September 20, 2008
Conifer
revetments are engineered stream enhancements used to reduce the amount
of silt in a stretch of river, narrow the stream channel, deepen the
water level and improve trout habitat. A number of pine trees are
anchored into the river bank using cable and rope. Over the course of
several years, the limbs of the trees will capture debris and silt
floating downstream, eventually firming up as a hardened river bank.
The trees work to remove silt first by trapping it in the limbs and
then by narrowing the stream channel, which speeds up the flow of
water, causing the current to keep silt moving downstream, rather than
settling to the river bottom.
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Mianus River Pilot Project
August 2008
After years of behind-the-scenes efforts to coordinate restoration work on the Mianus River Park, the Mianus Chapter collaborated with the city of Stamford, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and Trout Unlimited National staff to develop a pilot project in the Mianus River Park. The project site was chosen because it was an area struck by severe erosion following flooding in April 2007. The plan was to install a series of stone vanes, which force the current towards the center of the stream, to prevent further erosion. A second phase of the project, which will include lanting the area, installing a hardened access and drainage and fencing off the project site, will be completed in 2009.
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Norwalk River Restoration
Summer and Fall 2007
Projects on the Norwalk River in 2007 focused primarily on planting native vegetation. The plants, such as bank willow, red stem dogwood, viburnum and joe pie weed have build extensive root structures which will help hold the soil in place during floods in the spring and fall. The plants also help shade the river and provide protective cover for trout. The chapter also improved a conifer revetment at Schenck's Island to further narrow the stream channel and remove silt from the river.
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Cannondale Dam Bypass
Summer 2005 and Fall 2007
Perhaps the Mianus Chapter's most ambitious project to date, the Cannondale Dam Bypass Channel was constructed in 2005 with a $20,000 grant from the state. The bypass created a fish ladder for trout and other species of fish to migrate around an old dam to clean spawning waters upstream. Brown trout have been seen swimming up through the channel in the three years since.
In 2007, the site had a setback, as the extensive flooding in April caused significant erosion around the site. A grant from the William H. Donner Foundation allowed the chapter to repair the damage with new plantings.
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A Decade of Restoration
Mianus TU Archive
In the fall of 1995, the state Department of Environmental Protection was conducting a routine electroshocking of the Norwalk River when the crew came upon a surprising discovery. Among the stocked trout, baitfish and eels which were captured, the state also found a significant number of juvenile brown trout, proving the Norwalk River had a wildly spawning population.
At about the same time, chapter member Ed Vallerie began pushing for an active restoration effort on the Norwalk River. The Norwalk River Watershed Initiative was founded in 1996, partnering TU, the municipalities in the watershed and state agencies to plan for long-term protection of the river and its watershed.
Bolstered by an Embrace A Stream grant from TU National, the Mianus chapter began what has become more than a decade-long effort to protect the Norwalk's wild brown trout population. The first year's efforts paid off, as in 1997, when the state conducted a second electroschocking, it found the wild brown trout juvenile population had increased 137%.
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