Hatchery Creek Stream Restoration – Design/Monitoring Overview of a Unique Project to Create Trout Habitat
J. George Athanasakes, PE
Stantec Consulting Services Inc.
Louisville, KY
Authors: J. George Athanasakes & Oakes Routt
The Hatchery Creek Stream Restoration project is located immediately downstream of the Wolf Creek Dam National Trout Hatchery near Jamestown, Kentucky. This project was constructed in 2015 with the goals of providing habitat for all life stages of trout, while also producing mitigation credits for the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources’ Fee In-Lieu of (FILO) program. As part of the design, an existing 400-foot long outflow channel from the hatchery was extended to create approximately 6,000 feet of meandering single thread and multi-thread (braided) channels. On the downstream end of the project, a step pool channel was designed to lower flows approximately 30 feet to the base flow elevation of the Cumberland River. This project has several unique aspects, which are not typical to natural channel design projects, including a constant base flow of approximately 35 cfs, which is approximately 70% of the upstream bankfull flow, limited sediment supply, and the need to maintain imported spawning gravels. Additionally, the project was designed to provide fish passage from the Cumberland River for trout (while limiting other species); and due to fishing restrictions, a migration barrier was designed to prevent migration of trout into a public fishing area. Due to the unique nature of this project, the restored channel has undergone significant monitoring to evaluate the fisheries response.
The talk is the first of a two part series and will focus specifically on the design aspect of the project, setting the stage for a more detailed discussion on the monitoring of the project for fisheries response. The talk will focus on the overall project goals and objectives, specific design aspects considered to create habitat for all trout life stages as well as specific species of trout known to exist at the site, and considerations given to minimize risk to the project under flood conditions. The talk will also discuss the results of four years of geomorphic monitoring since the completion of the project and the overall channel response from a geomorphic perspective.
About J. George Athanasakes, PE
George completed his first stream restoration over 30 years ago and has worked on numerous stream restoration projects throughout the US and internationally. George has also helped bring innovation to the field of stream restoration by leading the development of Stantec’s RIVERMorph® software. His current responsibilities include leading Stantec’s Ecosystem Restoration Group.