ATLANTA, GA, Mar. 18, 2009 -- Michael Baker Jr. Inc., an engineering unit of Michael Baker Corporation, is the recipient of the 2009 Georgia Engineering Alliance Honor Award for the West Fork Little River Stream Restoration Project in Hall County, Georgia. Baker used innovative natural channel design practices to restore an unnamed tributary to the Little River with minimal impact to a working farm through which the tributary flows.
"This was the County's first natural channel design," said Will Harman, P.G., ecosystems restoration technical services manager. "It demonstrates sustainable natural channel restoration designs can be integrated into working farms without a loss of productivity."
The tributary cut through the stream bed and banks leaving exposed soil that eroded into the Little River, contaminating it each time it rained. Approximately 1,250 feet of stream was restored by designing a new channel with a stable bed and banks. Natural materials such as boulders, logs, and native vegetation were used to stabilize the channel and provide natural stream functions. Cattle were fenced out of the stream and an alternative watering system was established. The site was re-graded to improve pasture area and a vegetative buffer was installed around the stream. This helped to stabilize the channel, halted incision and widening, diminished bank erosion, improved the habitat for fish and benthic macro invertebrates and ultimately created a more visually pleasing stream by removing contaminants before they could enter the Little River, improving water quality. Baker worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Hall County throughout the project.
Michael Baker Corporation provides engineering and operations and maintenance services for its clients' most complex challenges worldwide. The firm's primary business areas are aviation, defense, environmental, facilities, geospatial, homeland security, municipal & civil, pipelines & utilities, transportation, water, and oil & gas.
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