#109 Erosion Control=Stream Restoration

The activity continues after the grapes have come in.

Vineyard Manager Kees Stapel drives a large excavator carrying a log that we intend to use to stabilize an eroding streambed. The log came from the forested area that we cleared last fall.

We have a stream that runs along the northern boundary of the Cabernet Franc block that we planted in 2019. With the advent of more extreme rain events, this streambed has been eroding at an increasingly rapid rate.

Four months ago the head of the New York division of the US Fish and Wildlife Service was visiting Seneca County. The county’s Soil and Water Conservation Department brought this representative down to evaluate the condition of this stream and recommend a solution.

He recommended a series of three, “log vanes.” These are interlocking logs that are positioned in a V-shape pointing upstream. They are braced against the banks of the stream. They slow the water down and direct it away from the banks. This reduces erosion. It also uses naturally occurring materials on the property.

Last year, we used an excavator to clear a wooded area where we will eventually plant grapevines. Fortunately, we had saved several dozen large logs from that area. They were still available to use to construct the log vanes.

Last week we had rented the same large excavator to finish some of the site work to prepare for the expanded vineyard area.

We had the logs; we had the equipment; we had the plan. We contacted the county Soil and Water department and said we were ready to undertake the US Fish and Wildlife erosion-control plan.

The US Dept. of Fish and Wildlife plan called for a series of three log vanes: a small, medium and large one in succession. For the most part, the ends of the logs are buried to ensure they are stabilized.

Vineyard team members Jesse Kovnat (l) and John Swick (r) getting started on the largest of a series of three log vanes that will slow the flow in the streambed. This one might end up six or seven layers high.

Below is the medium-sized log vane slightly upstream from the largest one

Someone might ask, “What’s the point of this? It is one tiny stream bed around a lake with almost 100 miles of shorelines and countless streams feeding into it.”

The point is that if our small team can do this, then any small team can do this. There are lots of logs around the lakes and lots of people who know how to run excavators.

If 100 teams were to do one of these every year for 10 years, then there would be 1,000 log vanes minimizing erosion for the next 50 years. Continue for another ten years and that is another 1,000 log vanes minimizing erosion.

These are small steps taken one-at-time over a long period to make a difference. It took many years for the streambed to erode. It will take many years to restore it.

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We want to thank the Seneca County Soil and Water Conservation Dept. for getting this started. That team of three people led our team of three people. And it would be nice to see three more teams of three people do the same.