Winter can be a great time to visit potential stream projects. With no leaves on the trees and other vegetation dead or dormant it’s easier to see the streambanks and what’s going on. Snow on the ground or ice on the stream stop the visits.
So far, the stream team has been able to get out to quite a few sites. At this site in Union County (above), Austen was able to “check out” the substrate on the stream bottom. By walking around he can use his feet to feel what’s underneath the water. Does he kick up a lot of sediment? Is it stone or muck? How big do the stones feel? How much wiggle room do the stones have?
You can see at this Union County site he had a small trail of sediment behind him as he walked up stream.
At the site shown above in Northumberland County, the snow-ice on the ground didn’t hinder design, but the skim of ice at the edges didn’t allow all the final design to happen.
While we crossed the stream in the shallower spots, the water was cold enough and deep enough Austen didn’t check out the subtrate here. The team developed a general concept and will be back in March to do a “final” design for permitting and ordering supplies.
