The City of Manitowoc will work on fixing a creek in a local park this year.
Parks and Recreation Director Brock Wetenkamp tells Seehafernews.com that the city and Wisconsin DNR have noticed stream bank erosion at Silver Creek in Silver Creek Park.
That means the water is pulling banks of the land into the water because of the amount of water in the creek.
The city’s goal is to try to reduce erosion and create habitat.
“We have parkland, we have buildings, we have structures,” he described. “We do have to protect our infrastructure while at the same time kind of allowing the stream to do its thing. In a way, our design helps do both. It will support the stream banks while protecting our infrastructure.”
Wetenkamp says the easiest way to slow erosion is to place rocks along the stream’s edge.
While that’s already happening, Manitowoc is also considering a more environmentally friendly method: burying logs and creating brush piles called toll wood.
“It’s a type of erosion control measure where we create this natural stream bank instead of an armor, stoned stream bank,” he explained. “There are certain areas where we are kind of hamstrung with the lay of the land and certain trees where we do armor the stream bank. But, for the most part, we are trying some natural measures.”
The city’s parks department has been looking to start this project for about 5 years, and residents have also expressed concern about erosion at Silver Creek.
Wetenkamp says the restoration at Silver Creek is entirely grant-funded, but the city is still working out some design concepts with the DNR.
Silver Creek could also be moved slightly, but not enough to make a big difference.
The Parks and Rec director added, “On the engineering side of things, there are some sections were we are trying to move the stream slightly away from the steeper banks to give us more room to lessen those banks.”
Wetenkamp says there are four specific areas of Silver Creek with high erosion that will be addressed as part of the project.
He wants the project to begin this summer because of some of the grant money they have received.
