Low-cost methods for slowing streambank erosion

Excerpt

To date, the methods have been used at nearly 600 sites. Each method costs about $25 a foot, compared with $150 to $650 for traditional steel, riprap, and cement structures. Bob Frazee, natural resources educator at the University of Illinois Extension and others from the Illinois Department of Agriculture, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, have been instrumental in developing and implementing the five methods outlined here.

Re-vegetating with willows

In smaller watersheds, you can stabilize a streambank by planting native willow trees along a stream's outer bend. You are basically recreating a natural riparian habitat, which through the shear mass of its vegetation and roots, slows torrents of water, dissipating energy that would otherwise scour away soil, sand, and gravel.

In the willow-post method, you plant willow cuttings during their dormant period between November and March. Posts should be about three to four inches in diameter and about 10 to 14 feet long. Depending on the height of the bank, you will plant three to five rows of trees. Postholes, which can be drilled with a hydraulic auger, should be five to six …