14 Years of River Restoration

Rivermede Farm, Keene Valley - 2012

For over a decade prior to Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, this section of the river was known to be vulnerable to large scale erosion. The inability of the river to maintain its form and manage sediment made flooding unpredictable for private businesses, homes, and hamlet infrastructure. In 2012, a unique partnership, coordinated by AFC, supported by the Town of Keene and a variety of funders, and relying on the expertise of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service–Cortland Field Office and Trout Unlimited –Adirondack Chapter, restored channel form and function, in and near-stream habitat, and community flood resilience.

John's Brook, Keene Valley - 2013

John's Brook provides some of the coolest, cleanest freshwater native brook trout habitat in the northeastern U.S. The brook suffered significant damage in areas just above and below the Route 73 bridge in Keene Valley, first from Tropical Storm Irene and then from post-storm excavation of the river by emergency workers. After an outcry from the Keene community, AFC and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received funds to restore 900 feet of river immediately upstream of the route 73 bridge. More work remains to restore the John's Brook Delta and ensure John's Brook is a haven for brook trout for decades to come.

Ladies Mile, Keene Valley - 2013

The Ladies Mile is a relatively flat section in the headwaters of the East Branch Ausable River. Above and below it are steep, rocky reaches making sediment management critical to the health of this much-loved reach. After overwhelming damage during Tropical Storm Irene, an initial project in 2013 stabilized the reach. Unfortunately, those repairs could not account for changes in sediment movement and storage upstream. The Halloween Storm of 2019 challenged AFC and the USFWS to rethink our approach to the reach. Joined by restoration experts from Ecosystem Planning and Restoration, we continue to work with the Adirondack Mountain Reserve to fully restore the Ladies Mile.

Riverlands, Wilmington - 2014

Funded by the landowner, the Riverlands restoration united our 2014 Rivermede team once again: Trout Unlimited–Adirondack Chapter, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service–Cortland Office, and AFC. Two pools, prized by anglers for decades, had filled with sediment from unstable banks lacking native plant cover. Our work narrowed the river channel, using toe wood to form low banks that would become home to a rich native habitat of grasses, shrubs, and trees. This was the site where our dedication to developing a hyper-local riparian planting methodology began. To this day, Riverlands serves as a laboratory for our successful native riparian revegetation efforts.

Learn more about our restoration work at Riverlands by reading our blog post:

Woodlea Farms, Lake Placid - 2014

The Adirondack Park Agency reached out to AFC in the spring of 2014 with a request to repair a degraded bank on the West Branch Ausable River. A poorly conceived repair to the bank in response to damage caused during Tropical Storm Irene, was failing and, in turn, causing adjacent sections of the bank to collapse. Supervised by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, this was AFC's first stream repair design and our first construction oversight effort. Not only has the bank repair using toe-wood held up but it restored and enhanced river function downstream improving channel form and reducing erosion.

Keene Town Beach, Keene - 2015

In August 2015, we completed restoration work at the Keene Town Beach, on the East Branch Ausable River. Working with the Town of Keene and FEMA funds, AFC and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service replaced a decaying wood and concrete weir with a natural weir. The result: enhanced fish passage, increased pool habitat, oxygenating riffles, and improved quality and safety of recreational opportunities. Since completing this project, we have also used this site as an outdoor classroom for educational programs with local students.

Rocky Branch, Jay - 2016

Rocky Branch is a tributary of the East Branch that contains important habitat for native brook trout. It's a lovely stream that once formed a delta as it reached its confluence. Channelized roughly 150 years ago, an area near the confluence became the site of an early brick making factory. The factory was short-lived and since then the stream has self-sustained its single channel form. Flood flows in Tropical Storm Irene disturbed this established pattern rerouting soil and water overland, damaging banks, and almost exposing a nearby bed of brick factory ash. After the storm, the Town of Jay approached AFC and asked our help in restoring this section of Rocky Branch. After consultation with the NYS DEC, we worked with Trout Unlimited and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to design and reconstruct the channel and secure the old ash pit.

Learn more about our restoration work at Rocky Branch by reading our blog post:

Dream Mile, Wilmington - 2017 to 2019

The Dream Mile restoration was an opportunity to put all our learning and project experience to work on an important stretch of the West Branch fishery. Renown for decades for its incredible angling, the Dream Mile was in decline. The famous culvert pool was filling, erosion had widened the river and was building a center island of sand. In turn, Haselton Road was beginning to be undermined. In 2015, the landowners asked if we could restore the deep pools, oxygenating riffles, and riparian cover needed to support a stable wild trout population in this reach of the West Branch along their property. Restoration to reestablish the stream functions of the Dream Mile took place over the course of three summers and, once again, tapped the skills of our partners at Trout Unlimited-Adirondack Chapter and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The result is a showcase for the longevity and habitat-enriching capacity of toe wood and of our native plant restoration techniques.

Learn more about our restoration work at the Dream Mile by reading our blog post:

Rome Dam, Jay - 2018

The Rome Dam was deemed structurally unsound and a "high hazard" dam by NYS and storm scenario modeling confirmed that dam failure could result in the loss of life downstream. These determinations required the Town of Jay, which owned the dam, to remove or repair it, or else face stiff fines. The Town voted to remove it and alongside the Governor's Office of Storm Recovery and Essex County, AFC helped accomplish the removal. Removing the dam not only protected people living downstream, but also reconnected river habitat, reduced upstream sediment buildup, cooled waters, and reduced ice jam formation.

Learn more about our removal of the Rome Dam by reading our blog post:

Quarry Dam, North Elba - 2018

In 2018, we provided assistance and advice to Trout Unlimited–Champlain Chapter to remove the Quarry Dam. This project improved fish passage along the West Branch Ausable River – a section of river prized for its excellent fly fishing. The removal also highlighted the increasing sedimentation of the West Branch, the resulting damage to the trout fishery, and the need to thoroughly investigate the reasons for this decline. AFC is proposing an intensive geomorphic assessment of the upper West Branch to identify sediment sources and solutions that restore river health.

Learn more about our removal of Quarry Dam and the history of this dam by reading our blog post:

Beers Bridge, Keene Valley - 2020

Bridges, much like culverts, can be enormous challenges for river health. The Beers Bridge in Keene Valley - a historic private structure - is undersized and badly skewed. Nevertheless, for many years, the river and the bridge coexisted. Tropical Storm Irene changed that. AFC completed this stage one stream repair to protect continued loss of riverside land, post-Irene, just upstream of the bridge. It's a first step. We've encouraged the landowners to look for an alternate route to access their properties, but options are challenging. We've developed a proposal for a follow up project and intend to include this in our forthcoming upper East Branch geomorphic assessment and Upper East Branch Restoration Plan.

Keene Water Main, Keene - 2020 to 2021

In the summer of 2020, the bank holding the Town of Keene water main pipe was discovered to be eroded, leaving the water main exposed. The pipe carries approximately 90% of the hamlet's water supply. At the time of discovery, AFC was offered an opportunity to submit a design for FEMA funds that protected the pipe and provided geomorphic stability and habitat enhancement for the river. This project took place in two phases: phase one addressed the immediate area around the pipe while phase two addressed the root cause of the issue, an overwide channel upstream of the pipe.

Learn more about Phase One and Phase Two of the Keene Water Main project by reading our blog posts about the projects:

Project Area 3, Upper Jay - 2021

In the fall of 2021, half a dozen large yellow excavators converged on the East Branch Ausable River in Upper Jay. In five weeks, they completed the restoration of almost 2000' of the river channel and banks. Using only native rock and uprooted large trees as building materials, they deepened and narrowed the over-wide channel, rebuilt the riffle-pool system, restored eroding banks, reconnected floodplains, and ensured that wood and sediment would move through the system efficiently (above: the second photo shows before restoration, the first photo shows after restoration). In short, they restored a stretch of river making it self-sustaining. This project increased flood resilience for the hamlet of Upper Jay–ensuring fewer ice jams, increased instream and bankside habitat for wildlife, and created several excellent swimming holes–tested and approved by neighbors. Project Area 3 (PA3) is the first of 13 projects completed as part of the Town of Jay’s response to Tropical Storm Irene.

Learn more about our restoration work at PA3 by reading our blog post about the project: