Double cross vane step-pool structure drops bankfull two feet while providing fish passage and grade control on Beaver Run in Madison County, Virginia. Photo by USFWS in July 2006.

Station 1100 looking downstream before restoration of Beaver Run in Madison County, Virginia. Photo by USFWS in March 2006.

Station 1100 after restoration of Beaver Run in Madison County, Virginia. Note the J-hook structure in foreground and left arm of cross-vane just visible in background. Photo by USWFS in June 2006.

The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program in the Virginia Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service completed 3570 linear feet of stream restoration on June 20, 2006. The project utilized natural channel design techniques promoted by Dave Rosgen. 

Referred by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Partners staff adopted the project in Madison County, Virginia after convincing the landowner not to straighten the meanders of his severely eroding stream as planned.  The determining cause of the channel instability was years of unrestricted cattle grazing.  The project consisted of creating 350 linear feet of new channel, 25 feet in width, constructing floodplain benches, installing twelve rock structures, cattle exclusion fencing, and creating a forested buffer. 

Channel construction took three weeks to complete and involved the placement of 180 tons of rock and displacement of 3,900 cubic yards of soil.  Construction costs totaled $29,000, not including fencing and forest buffer.  The project sustained minimal damage a week after completion when severe flooding occurred throughout the Mid-Atlantic region the week of June 26. 

Cost-share partners included the landowner, USDA, and the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District.  The Service designed the project and supervised construction.