The Swannanoa River Restoration Project will restore and stabilize approximately 1,700 linear feet of the Swannanoa River located at Veteran's Park.
The Veteran's Park reach of the Swannanoa River is suffering from bank erosion, degraded aquatic habitats, fine sediment pollution and loss of land. Left unchecked, the condition of the river will continue to degrade water quality and aquatic habitats, and threaten park facilities on the left bank and a sanitary sewer man on the right bank.
The primary goal of the stream restoration project is to stabilize the eroding banks and river bed using natural material such as stone and wood and native riparian plantings to address channel instability. In areas where banks are eroding, bank grading will lessen steep slopes and allow for the installation of bio-engineering practices to quickly establish native riparian shrubs and their stabilizing root masses. In-stream structures will be used to provide grade control in the river bed and direct flow to the center of the channel, which will help reinforce stabilized banks and promote the formation of riffles and pools.
We would like to thank our funding partners: Duke Progress Energy, the Pigeon River Fund, and the Department of Water Quality.
We would also like to thank Montreat College for their help with this project as well.
