Eccleston is for the Birds: How a Trout Restoration Project was Designed to be a Birding Hotspot in Maryland
Kristina Higgins, PE
Jim Morris, PE
Johnson, Mirmiran, & Thompson, Inc.
Hunt Valley, MD
Authors: Kristina Higgins and Jim Morris
The Eccleston Restoration Site, completed in October 2022, is a large-scale stream and wetland restoration project located in the Upper Jones Falls River catchment area within the Gunpowder-Patapsco Watershed in Baltimore County, MD. The project restored a 99-acre parcel, via floodplain restoration and upland practices, with special attention paid to preserving and enhancing habitats for the brown trout fishery. The project included elements of in-channel stream restoration as well as landscape restoration to holistically create a self-sustaining, abundant, and diverse ecosystem.
The Site was developed by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) to provide compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impacts to state and federally regulated aquatic resources resulting from the I-95 Express Toll Lanes (ETL) Section 200 Improvements. The total restored area of 58-acres, which is protected by a perpetual conservation easement, includes 22-acres of wetland restoration, enhancement, and preservation along with over 10,000-linear feet of stream restoration, creation, and preservation.
This presentation will describe the techniques for restoration that resulted in 122 (and counting) bird species utilizing a former agricultural site, the expansion of a dwindling trout spawning population, and the correlation of trout spawning locations with observed bird species and diversity. Through modified floodplain restoration techniques, mitigation goals were met as well as the development of a regionally significant resource for the fishery, residents, and migratory birds. The benefits of upland preservation and management in relation to bird, benthic, and fish communities will be explored, as well as how community stakeholder involvement was essential for the project.
About Kristina Higgins, PD
Kristina Higgins, PE is an Ecological Restoration Engineer with a passion for blending engineering practices with ecological sustainability to restore and preserve natural habitats. With 10 years of experience in the field, Kristina specializes in designing and implementing stream and wetland restoration projects, with a focus on Mitigation Banking. Kristina utilizes a comprehensive understanding of environmental science, ecology, and engineering principles to create innovative and impactful solutions that promote biodiversity, improve ecosystem health, and mitigate the effects of climate change.
About Jim Morris, PE
Jim Morris is a 20-year water resources engineer and serves as JMT's Turnkey Ecosystem Services Design Lead with a focus in stream and wetland restoration and specializes in cold water fisheries. He comes from a design-build restoration background, coastal hydrodynamic 2D and 3D modeling and design background. Most recently he has completed design and oversight work on major restorations in Maryland as well as the Great Lakes region, where he designed habitat restorations following contaminated sediment remediation for projects in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. When he isn't restoring streams, he enjoys working on his 46-acre farm in southern York County, is an avid restorer of classic Swedish cars and garden tractors, an outdoorsman, and a collector of antiques.