Haskell Run Stream Restoration

An important first step is taken to regenerate more than 5,000 LF of a stream system in Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Located on land saved from development and later remediated by the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park and transferred to the National Park Serve, Haskell Run is a tributary to the Cuyahoga River. On its way to the Cuyahoga, it flows through the former Brandywine golf course. When the golf course was developed, Haskell Run was pushed to the edge of the valley, dammed, channelized, and in some spots, buried and piped. As a result of these manipulations, along with tile drain installation and the piping of smaller tributaries, the stream had become severely eroded and degraded, providing minimal habitat and facilitating the flow of sediment into the Cuyahoga and ultimately Lake Erie.

With support from Biohabitats, the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park procured a grant from the state’s H2Ohio Rivers Program to implement the first stage of a larger scale restoration effort. Working closely with the Conservancy, Biohabitats developed a design to restore and regenerate approximately 600 LF of Haskell Run by raising the stream bed, creating a Stage 0 channel, and reconnecting it to a new floodplain and riparian forest. In a design-build capacity, working with partners from Meadville Land Service, Biohabitats will also lead construction of the project, which will include the removal of drain tiles, culvert pipes, remnants of asphalt golf cart paths, infrastructure from an old dam, and invasive species. Volunteers of the National Park service will be responsible for planting hundreds of trees in the new floodplain and riparian forests. The downstream end of the restored portion of the stream will tie back into the existing stream through a cascade that can be moved and repurposed in future phases of the project.

TAGS

• Design-Build
• Ecological Restoration