Youngblood Stream Repair, the Following Weeks: GROWTH AND RESTABILIZATION

After One Week



 All of the work was completed in one day. These progress shots show the recovery of the streambanks over the following weeks.



<==We planted fast-growing rye as well as slower-growing fescue and other grasses under the fiber cover.

  
==>Note that the cover's strips are overlapped uphill, much like breaking waves, to prevent high water from getting underneath.

 After Two Weeks



<====>The bright green grass shooting up is the rye. It  stabilizes the banks quickly -- but rye is an annual, and will die back in the summer, allowing the long-lasting fescue and other grasses to take over.

After One Month


 <==The secret to successful streambank repair is the angle of the bank. Properly cut, it will prevent erosion by giving no fixed resistance while slowing the water flow.
 
  




==>As the slower grasses grow, they swallow the cover, which will rot away and disappear in a few years. By then, the roots of the grasses and shrubs will be firmly holding the soil of a fully healed streambank.