# Presentation: 536293

## Characteristics of Headwater Streams and Considerations for Stream Restoration on Hollow Fills in Eastern Kentucky

**The Stream Institute**
**University of Louisville**
**Art Parola**
**Civil & Environmental Engineering**
**a.c.parola@louisville.edu**

## Sponsors and Acknowledgement

- EPA 319 and Kentucky Division of Water
- Regional Stream Assessment of Headwater Streams
- Margi Jones – 319 Project Manager
- EPA 401 Wetlands Grant and Kentucky Division of Water
- Evaluation of Stream Restorations
- John Dovak and Jennifer Garland, supervisors, Water Quality Certification Section, Kentucky Division of Water
- Assistance also provided by Kentucky Department for Natural Resources
- Jennifer Thompson and Mark Carew

## AcknowledgementULSI Staff

- Jeffery Jack, Ph.D. – Associate Professor, Biology Department, University of Louisville
- Michael Croasdaile, Ph.D. - Research Associate
- William S. Vesely, Research Project Engineer
- Ben Mater – Graduate Student
- Chandra Hansen – Technical Research Writer
- Dana S K Jackman, M.S. - Program Coordinator

## Headwater Streams and Hollow-Fill Study Sites

**Headwater Streams and ****Hollow-Fill Study Sites**

- Greenbo Lake SRP

- Yatesville WMA

- Paintsville WMA

- Robinson Forest WMA

- Lilley Cornett Woods

- Pike County
- Mudlick Br. of Pond Cr.
- Narrows Br. of Pond Cr.
- Murphy Frk. of Narrows Br.
- Mudlick Br. of Blackberry Frk.
- UT of Narrows Br.

- Letcher County
- Elkhorn Cr headwaters
- Little Elkhorn Cr

- Harlan County
- Arches Br. of Big Laurel Cr.
- Nick Br. of Big Laurel Cr.

- Owsley County
- Rone Frk. Br.
- UT of Spivey Cr.

- Fishtrap Lake WMA

- Martin County
- Laurel Frk. of Wolf Br.

- Harlan County
- Sally Huff Br. of Cloverlick Cr.
- Bee Br. of Cloverlick Cr.
- Trace Frk. of Cloverlick Cr.
- Right Frk. of Cloverlick Cr.

**Notes:**
Streams listed are those visited.  Hollow fills listed are those for which profiles have been done.

## Some Characteristics of Headwater Streams in Eastern Kentucky

- Headwater Valley and Stream Morphology
- Extent of channel network
- Channel head locations
- Bed forms (boulder swales, step pools, plane bed, etc.)
- Channel and valley evolution – landslide driven landscape
- Headwater Valley Hydrology
- Intermittent-ephemeral transition zones
- Valley groundwater system
- Structural features and land-use

## Headcut and Extent of Network

## Valley Morphology

## Valley bottom filled with debris: boulder swale

**Notes:**
Lilley Cornett

## Flow may rearrange colluvial material into bedforms (step-pools)

**Flow may rearrange colluvial material ****into bedforms (step-pools)**

**Notes:**
Yatesville

## Abrupt channel head (Lilley Cornett Woods)

## Gradual transition (Falling Rock Creek)

**Gradual transition (Falling Rock Creek)**

## Abrupt channel head at road (Mill Branch)

**Abrupt channel head at road (Mill Branch)**

## Landslide potential mapOuterbridge 1982

## Landslides

- Channel has incised into hillslope at contact with landslide scar

## Valley morphology and groundwater interaction

- Coal
- seams

## Clemens Branch: 0.103 sq miles (66 acres)

**Clemens Branch: 0.103 sq miles (66 acres)**

## Clemens Branch: 0.05 sq miles (32 acres)

**Clemens Branch: 0.05 sq miles (32 acres)**

## Clemens Branch: 0.037 sq miles (24 acres)

## Clemens Branch: 0.018 sq miles (11.5 acres)

## Clemens Branch: 0.004 sq miles (2.6 acres)

## Slide 21

**Notes:**
Aerial photography: 3/6/2002
Pike County
Permit: 898-0349

Narrows Branch
of Blackberry FK
of Pond Creek

## Multiple fill types

- Valley fills
- Hollow fills and head-of-hollow fills
- Side hill fills
- Bench fills
- Characterized by
- elevation in the hollow
- location
- geometric configuration
- durability of rock

## Considerations for Stream Restoration at Hollow Fills

**Considerations for Stream Restoration at Hollow Fills**

## Side drains

- (Groin ditches)
- Terraces
- Underdrains

**Notes:**
Permit: 898-0349
Amendment #3
Issue date: 7/29/1994
Hollow-fill 11

## Slide 26

## Slide 27

**Notes:**
Aerial photography: 2/14/2002
Site status as of photo data: Phase I Bond Release (P1)

## Slide 28

**Notes:**
Aerial photography: 3/6/2002
Pike County
Permit: 898-0349
Narrows Branch
of Blackberry FK
of Pond Creek

## Mud Lick

**Headcuts may migrate around check dams**

## Headcuts may migrateinto fill channels

**Headcuts may migrate****into fill channels**

## Streams may avulse to a new location

**Streams may avulse ****to a new location**

**Notes:**
Trib of Archer Br

## Landslides are part of the landscape and should be considered in channel design

**Landslides are part of the landscape and should be considered in channel design**

**Notes:**
Mud Lick

## Stream restoration at sediment pond

**Stream restoration ****at sediment pond**

**Notes:**
Tributary of Archer Branch 
Downstream of a Valley Fill
Stream over sediment pond area

## Mud Lick

## Channel degradation along restored stream in pond area

**Channel degradation along ****restored stream in pond area**

**Notes:**
Narrows  Br of Blackberry

## Some Considerations for Design of Stream Restoration at Hollow Fills

- Final constructed geometry of fill may change substantially from the initial permitted design
- Fill is composed of porous material, affecting groundwater and surface water interaction and the location of the ephemeral/intermittent transition zone
- Adjacent hillslope processes such as landslides will continue resulting in slope failure debris in channels and potential displacement of channels
- Differential settlement of fill would cause somewhat unpredictable changes in channel slope in locations other than along fill sides
- Downstream channel instability may propagate into fill channels or restored pond reaches

## Kentucky DNRBetter pond restoration plans and improved channel design on fills

**Directive 34**: 01/17/01 Inspection Procedures for MSHA Impoundments
**Directive 36**: 08/07/02 Excess spoil fill, contemporaneous reclamation, backfilling & grading: Inspection/Enforcement procedures
- _[http://](http://www.minepermits.ky.gov/statutesregs/RAMs.htm)__[www.minepermits.ky.gov/statutesregs/RAMs.htm](http://www.minepermits.ky.gov/statutesregs/RAMs.htm)_
**Reclamation Advisory Memorandums**
- _[RAM 138](http://www.minepermits.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/0C8775A5-8B66-4CCE-98D4-A98E1B59BC25/0/RAM138.pdf)_ 08/15/05 KPDES Permits for Coal Mining Activities: New Antidegradation Requirements
- RAM 137 04/14/04 New Regulations for Noncoal Minerals
- RAM 136 11/21/03 KPDES Coal General Permit Reissued
- RAM 135 09/10/02 Review of Durable Rock Fill Designs
- RAM 134 10/25/01 Clarification of Permitting Procedures for Streams Between Fills and Ponds

## Questions?

**Questions?**