Stream Bank Stabilization Project

The Montour Run Watershed Association (MRWA) conducted
the Montour Run Stream Bank Stabilization Project with the
cooperation and support of the Montour Trail Council in two
separate phases of effort over a period of several years.
The objective of both phases has been to protect the
heavily eroded stream banks against further scouring due to
high-velocity flows of storm water during future heavy
rains. Funding
was provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection, Bureau of Mining and Reclamation, under a
$62,800 ReclaimPA grant.
a) Phase1: Rip-Rap Stone Installation
Temporarily
using portions of the Airport-area section of the
Montour Trail as a hauling road, the construction
subcontractor, BKG Inc., trucked 1,600 tons of carbonate
rip-rap rock material to twelve different sites along the
main trunk of Montour Run.
Using a back-hoe to place this heavy material, BKG
built up rock linings to protect erosion-impaired sections
of the stream bank.
A total
of 1460 lineal feet of stabilizing rock layers were
installed.
Much of the detailed technical work of surveying and mapping the
stabilization sites, applying for agency permits,
calculating material quantities, and preparing bidding
documents was performed by Allegheny County Engineer Dave
Wright. This
work was completed in the summer of 2001.
b) Phase 2:
Stream-Bank Plantings
Tree seedlings were installed on a
heavily eroded stream bank of Montour Run early in May 2003.
A total of approximately 200 dogwood, box elder, and
willow seedlings were planted by the Urban Tree Care Company
on the west bank of the main trunk of Montour Run, near the
Cliff Mine Road bridge crossing.
MRWA members and Montour High School student
volunteers became involved in the project later, installing
protective stakes and watering and mulching the fledgling
trees.
These trees were to complement the
earlier installation of rip-rap stone under Phase 1 of the
project by further anchoring the soil on this steeply sloped
stream bank section.
Additional benefits would include the shading of the
stream for improved fish habitat.
In volunteer work sessions jointly
sponsored by Duquesne Light and the MRWA in April 2006,
stream bank sections of the main trunk of Montour Run were
again reinforced.
Teams installed numerous plantings in exposed
sections of the stream bank in the vicinity of the Cliff Mine Road bridge and at the Park Manor Drive
gazebo. At both
the Cliff Mine and the Park Manor sites, MRWA volunteers
installed planting stock of burning bush, honeysuckle,
butterfly bush, and forsythia.
The Duquesne Light team applied a
branch layering technique, installing layers of bundled
branch cuttings of desirable low-growing species (dogwood
and willow) anchored to the bank at high-water level.
Metal stakes were first driven into the bank, and
following the installation of bundles, an intermediate layer
of peat and a covering of straw were added.
The stakes were then bent over to anchor the
composite of these layers to the bank.
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