ZMS STUDENTS PROVIDE TREE IDENTIFICATION SIGNS IN STARKEY PARK
Posted: 05/20/2010
Last year a group of Zionsville Middle School students formed a service club, appropriately named T.R.E.E. (Taking Responsibility for Earth’s Environments), with the specific purpose of applying for a Youth as Resources grant to purchase tree identification signs for Starkey Nature Park.
Bank Stabilization Project STREAM BANK STABILIZATION PROJECT COMPLETED IN CREEKSIDE NATURE PARK Folks who walk the trail along Eagle Creek that leads from Creekside Park to Zionsville Road as it winds past the old Interurban Railway bridge abutment will notice what appears to be a recently-completed landscaping project, including a stone stairway, along the stream bank. As pleasing as the landscaping looks, there really is a lot more here than meets the eye. Over the years, natural processes, most likely assisted by two large chucks of concrete in the stream, continued to erode the bank supporting this section of the trail. Allowing the bank erosion to continue could eventually lead to a collapse of the trail, thus creating a potentially dangerous situation and a very expensive repair in the future. The Park and Recreation Department commissioned a project in February to restore and stabilize the stream bank. USI Consultants, Inc. of Indianapolis was selected through a competitive bidding process to provide a long lasting, cost-effective, and aesthetically pleasing solution to the problem. They recommended a bioengineered approach that has been successfully implemented on many streams in the US, and includes two projects on the White River, one at the Hamilton County Campground, and one at the ARTSPARK in Broad Ripple. George R. Harvey and Son of Danville, IN, a firm with a great deal of experience in this type of work, won the construction contract. The actual restoration of the bank begins about three feet below the bottom of the creek. The creek bed is excavated to the proper depth, width and slope and then filled with standard rock riprap. This is necessary to support the compacted soil layers that will form the part of the bank above the creek surface. Flexible “logs”, also known as coir logs, made of biodegradable coconut hull fibers, are placed at the edge of the bank at the “normal- flow” waterline. The logs, which contain seeds of native grasses and certain plant shoots (prevegetated), serve to prevent erosion while the native grasses on the bank take root and hold the soil. About six feet of soil, compacted into several layers, and separated by fabric materials known as geotextiles and geogrids, form the visible part of the restoration. Geogrids and geotextiles are specially engineered fabrics that allow for water drainage, soil retention and additional anchor points for the coir logs. The soil is then covered with a light mesh fabric to hold the native grass seeds and straw. In the next several years the coconut fiber logs will biodegrade, leaving a beautiful stand of native grasses with very deep roots to naturally stabilize the stream bank, reduce silting in the watershed, and preserve the trail. The Parks and Recreation Department wishes to thank Mark and Greg Albers for generously allowing access to the site through their property, greatly helping to facilitate the construction. For further information, contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 733-2273. SCM 4/2/10