Use of Hay Bales in Stream Restoration: A Review of their Performance, and Vegetation Establishment to Secure Stability
Gina C. Levesque
5 Smooth Stones Restoration
Livermore, Colorado
Authors: Aaron Schoelkopf, Gina C. Levesque, and David Bidelsphach
Use of natural materials is key to “natural streambank design.” Acquiring materials sometimes requires designers to think outside the traditional realm of log and rock structures. We suggest that hay bales provide a viable alternative to traditional best management practices particularly in small waterways particularly intermittent streams in low slope settings. To hold grade, Hay bales can provide structure and stability to natural channel design projects which decreases cost where rock and wood are not readily available. They can be used not only on the outside of pool areas to provide bank stability, but also in riffle areas to provide streambed structure. Riffle structures required to create hydraulic drop can be replaced with cascading hay bales instead of constructed or augmented riffle designs. Hay bales provide a strong structure while being a porous material allowing for water conduction over and through the bale. Small sediments normally lost in a classic design are entrapped in the fibrous hay bale.
Several factors should be considered when using hay bales. Bales come in various sizes ranging from small square bales to large round bales. Which type is used for construction is best determined by the engineering design. Bales should be locally harvested to reduce introduction of undesirable species including non-native grasses and invasive plant species and to source a material when rocks and trees are not.
This presentation will review three projects where hay bales were used as instream stabilization structures; two projects located in Oklahoma and the third in Texas. Each project is reviewed at a different construction phase reflecting ten years, two years, and immediately post construction. In each instance, the bales used were not visible post construction and continued to hold grade for 10+ years.
About Gina C. Levesque
Gina Levesque has been a Riparian Ecologist for 5 Smooth Stones Restoration since 2016. She is a Certified Restoration Ecologist with the Society for Ecological Restoration and is a current board member with RiverSHARED. Her professional and educational experience includes restoration ecology, conservation biology, and conservation genetics. She holds degrees from Purdue University and University of Arkansas, with additional graduate work at Oklahoma State University.