West Harpeth River in Franklin

October 26th, 2002

The Volunteer River Restoration Corps did its first project on Saturday, an all day affair, and we had a great turnout!

A good group of volunteers showed up to help us install cedar revetments at the bottom of an eroding vertical bank on the West Harpeth River.  We hauled cedar trees (selectively cut from a local farm) and cabled them into place at the toe (bottom) of the bank using steel posts pounded 5 feet into the bank. We also set up an erosion study site to document the amount of erosion that takes place during the next year both on the treated and untreated sections.

This winter, we'll revisit the site to plant sapling trees and shrubs and to monitor and document any changes in our revetments.  By using the revetments and plantings together, we hope to not only stop the erosion of the bank, but to actually rebuild the bank and facilitate vegetative growth for future stability.

Data from the joint HRWA and Cumberland River Compact Sediment Study indicates that there is a significant amount of sediment in the lower West Harpeth.  From the HRWA Visual Stream Assessment, nine actively eroding streambanks were catalogued on the West Harpeth below the New Highway 96 Bridge. Therefore, this site was chosen to assess how effectively actively eroding banks can be addressed. This restoration project is one of five that HRWA is doing around the Harpeth River watershed as part of a grant from the State Nonpoint Source Program and the EPA.

Remember: we'll be doing more of this (and other restoration) and we'd LOVE to have you join us on our next project! Please contact us if you're interested or would like more information: 615-790-9767 or hrwa@harpethriver.org.