Urban Riparian and Stream Restoration Demonstration

The Urban Riparian and Stream Restoration Program’s Demonstration Project will be conducted on Geronimo Creek to demonstrate the value of riparian restoration.

The demonstration site is owned by The Irma Lewis Seguin Outdoor Learning Center and the Texas Water Resources Institute is coordinating with partners including the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and the Geronimo and Alligator Creeks Watershed Partnership.

Riparian restoration and stream bank stabilization will lead to improvements in water quality, in-stream habitat, terrestrial wildlife, aquatic species, and overall stream health. In addition, reduced sedimentation rates are a cost effective strategy for extending the operational life of the state’s water supply reservoirs for water availability.  The Geronimo an Alligator Creek Watershed Protection Plan, as does most watershed plans, includes implementing riparian forest and herbaceous buffers to reduce pollutant loads in the watershed. The demonstration will implement riparian buffers using natural bank stabilization techniques and planting native vegetation on one of the two sites of approximately 100 feet to demonstrate the difference in bank erosion rates and sediment suspended on the water of the creek. The vegetation holds the soil particles and stabilizes the bank, reducing bank erosion. The vegetation also acts as a filter for the water, especially during flood events, which, in turn, increases the stream’s overall water quality.

The results of erosion and total suspended solids in the creek of the restored site will be compared to the upstream non-restored site to show the benefits of the increased vegetation cover on the banks.