May 17, 2003

On May 17, 2003, fifteen middle school students from James Blair Middle School National Junior Honor Society joined PRIDE staff to stabilize a fifty foot section of stream bank on Powhatan Plantation property near Steeplechase Apartments. The project used coconut fiber (coir) logs to manage stream velocity, increase erosion resistance and provide a home for streambank vegetation.

In less than two hours, the students dug out the eroded stream section, placed four sixty foot coconut (coir) fiber logs along the bank, planted herbaceous plants, seeded and mulched the disturbed area, and cleaned up debris and trash from a storm pipe outfall and receiving drainage channel.

To illustrate the need for the project, County staff showed them a severely eroded stream channel just 200 feet downstream of the project. The County is evaluating restoring this area using bio-engineering and structural stream bank stabilization techniques as part of the County’s Powhatan Creek Watershed Management Plan.