FLOOD06399

• County: Jefferson
• Community: Buffalo Creek
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: Stream Channel Stabilization Techniques for the Buffalo Creek Reclamation Project
• Date: 8/20/1996
• Prepared For: USFWS
• Prepared By: Woodward-Clyde
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Mitigation/Flood Warning/Watershed Restoration

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Woodward-Clyde ..

Engineering & sciences applied to the earth & its environment

August 20, 1996

Mr, JeffBruggink
V.S, Forest Service
1920 Valley Dr.
Pueblo, CO 81008

Subject:

Stream Channel Stabilization Techniques for the Buffalo Creek Reclamation
Project

Dear Mr. Bruggink,

To complement a recent correspondence to you concerning Bonded Fiber Matrix
application, please find information on stream channel planting and reclamation techniques to
assist in reducing the impacts of excessive erosion within Buffalo Creek and surrounding
drainages,

Currently, an extensive network of gullies and streambank failures is apparent throughout
the Buffalo Creek watershed and is a direct result of the increased water flows associated
with the Buffalo Creek burn of May 1996. The intense debris flow and associated sediment
load scoured out or covered much of the existing vegetation,

As part of an overall management plan for the area, the use of complementary or supportive
best management practices (BMP's) throughout the affected watershed is necessary in order
to reduce impacts on downstream areas, such as Buffalo Creek.

The purpose of this memo is to provide information on streambank erosion protection
approaches to encourage the re-establishment of permanent vegetation in affected stream
channels.

Streambank Erosion Protection Techniaues .

Vegetation was the key element to reduce the impacts of excessive erosion prior to the
catastrophic events of July 1996, and remains the key to the long term success of future
streambank protection efforts. There are four ways that vegetation protects streamb~:
First, the root systems help hold the soil together and increase the overall bank stability by
this binding network structure. Second, the exposed vegetation (stalks, stems, branches, and
foliage) can increase the roughness resistance to flow and reduce the local flow velocities.
Third, the vegetation acts as a buffer against the abrasive effect of transported materials.
Fourth, close-growing vegetation can induce sediment deposition causing zones of low

96IXiOVS4ULE498 &'19196(3:20 PM)'MKT/48

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