VDOT Ivy Creek Stream Restoration Project

The restoration design of over 2,500 linear feet of degraded stream supports not only ongoing ecological function and stability but also the continued presence of beavers.

Ivy Creek was an incised stream channel that flowed through a large, historically agricultural property recently protected by a Natural Lands Trust Conservation Easement. The property owner was interested in restoring the stream’s degraded conditions and protecting it, along with adjacent lands, in perpetuity. Taking a proactive stance, the Virginia Department of Transportation chose to begin restoring Ivy Creek before needing stream mitigation credits, a move applauded by regulators.

Complicating the restoration was the presence of multiple beaver impoundments in and immediately downstream of the project area. Biohabitats’ design, which reconnected the floodplain, stabilized eroding stream banks and improved in-channel habitat, allowed the project to meet its goals without being compromised by the continued presence of the beaver.