Performance Monitoring Development for Impoundment Removal Projects
Bree Stephens
RES
Richmond, VA
Two impoundments in Virginia will be removed for Clean Water Act Section 404 mitigation. Restoration work will include removing the dams and allowing the streams in the pond footprint to reestablish naturally through hydraulic and geomorphic processes. The template performance standards and monitoring protocols typically used for 404 projects in Virginia are based on single thread channel stability and static geomorphic ratios. These metrics are inappropriate for these impoundment removal projects because of the dynamic nature of the reestablished channels. The framework developed in EPA’s “Expanding Monitoring and Performance to Dynamic Alluvial Valleys” was used to present new performance standards with failure modes and acceptable alternative endpoints, highlighting that there are multiple different outcomes that would be considered a success but also defined endpoints that would be unacceptable. The proposed performance standards address uplift using key stream processes, including extensive lateral and vertical connectivity, creation and maintenance of diverse habitats, retention of materials, and abundant biological communities. Monitoring protocols include new technologies like drone aerial imagery and data loggers to provide a holistic view of project performance. This presentation will show how use of the EPA document facilitated agency understanding and acceptance of the proposed approach for dam removal and natural channel establishment in a reclaimed stream valley.
About Bree Stephens
Bree Stephens has over 12 years of stream restoration design and fisheries biology experience and has been with RES for 7 years. She received a BS in Environmental Science from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, then went on to get her MS in Environmental Studies at the Virginia Commonwealth University, focusing on fisheries biology. While with RES, she has led the design and field work for a number of stream restoration projects where she incorporated her knowledge of aquatic biology into her designs. She has brought in her fisheries biology experience to build a biological monitoring program for RES’s stream restoration projects within the Mid-Atlantic, hoping to expand our understanding of the impacts of stream restoration to aquatic biology and how to best design for the creatures that live in our streams.