by Jim Wilson Northampton County Conservation District
In partnership with the PA Fish & Boat Commission, Northampton County Parks Department and the Fry’s Run Watershed Association, the Northampton County Conservation District coordinated and assisted in the restoration of nearly 300 linear feet of severely eroded stream banks along Fry’s Run at Fry’s Run County Park in July. The project included grading back steeply eroded stream banks and constructing four log vane deflectors, two mud sill cribs and one stone deflector directly into the graded stream banks. The graded stream banks will reduce erosive energy on them during storms, and the structures now help protect and stabilize the stream banks by deflecting stream flow away from the banks, thus reducing stream bank erosion and subsequent sediment pollution to Fry’s Run and the Delaware River. The stream bank structures also provide fish habitat.An excavator, a skid loader, over 100 tons of stone, more than 30 hemlock logs and a couple dozen rebar pins were used in the construction of this project. The PA Fish & Boat Commission designed and supervised the project as part of its aquatic resource conservation mission. Staff and an intern from the Conservation District and volunteers from the Fry’s Run Watershed Association, Lehigh Valley Master Watershed Steward Program and the Northampton County Prison helped place and pin together the log structures, strategically key stone into place, and seed and mat disturbed areas after construction.
Power and hand tools for the project were provided by the Fish & Boat Commission and the County Parks Department. The Conservation District received a grant from the Coldwater Heritage Partnership for the project, which was used to pay for construction materials and an excavating contractor.
