Watershed group channels waterpower to remove silt from Paint Creek

Sediment problems in Paint Creek aren't limited to the Holly Grove area, said Siemiaczko, who, 30 years ago, founded the Paint Creek Watershed Association and now serves on its board of directors. "It's a problem from here to Mahan," about 15 miles upstream in Fayette County, he said.

Two weeks ago, in an effort to remedy that situation, the Paint Creek Watershed Association launched the first phase of a sediment control project that uses strategically placed boulders to purge silt out of the stream by harnessing the force of water. 

A crew from Chapmanville-based Appalachian Stream Restoration is using heavy equipment to:

• Arrange boulders to form a 500-foot stretch of artificial riffles in a series of gentle 'S' curves upstream from the Hollygrove bridge. The riffles help flush silt downstream while increasing the dissolved oxygen content in the creek to benefit fish and other forms of aquatic life.
• Build boulder vanes to narrow the creek's channel to increase water velocity at a siltation choke point to flush sediment away or deflect water away from erosion-vulnerable streambanks.
• Build boulder cross-vanes to direct streamflow away from eroding banks toward the center of the stream to facilitate the development of pools that provide fish with shelter from predators and a refuge from strong currents.
• Build boulder "J-hook" structures to slow streamflow and direct it away from banks toward the center of the channel, where water entering the "J" portion of the structure is channeled in a pattern that scours away silt and creates a pool.

Silt buildup affects insects that fish feed on

"These structures provide lots of benefits," said Chris White, who founded Appalachian Stream Restoration 30 years ago with his brother soon after graduating from Marshall University. He now has a 74-employee staff and a portfolio of completed projects in 19 counties and several Eastern states.

"They will restore habitat for fish, reduce the likelihood of bank erosion events during flooding, and prevent sediment aggradation" or the gradual buildup of sediment that makes streams shallower, making them more prone to flow out of their banks during high water events, he said.

"When silt, sand and mud cover rocks in a streambed, the water insects living beneath them — the bugs that fish rely on for food — are smothered and can't survive," Siemiaczko said. 

In addition to producing a healthier, more productive environment for fish and other forms of aquatic life, stream restoration structures can, by flushing out silt, increase the carrying capacity of streams, thus reducing the amount of water flowing out of streambanks and into floodplains, he said.

"Stream structures also help in stabilizing streambanks from being washed away," Siemiaczko said, by steering the flow of water into the center of the stream and away from streambanks. "But nothing is going to prevent all flooding," he added.

Siemiaczko said sediment buildup is occurring under a pair of West Virginia Turnpike bridges near the Paint Creek exit.

"It appears to me and others that the streambed is getting extremely close to the bottoms of those bridges," he said, possibly making the spans prone to flooding.

"I would highly suggest to the West Virginia Turnpike to hire a specialist in stream structure placement in order to identify what is causing the blockage and fix it," he said.

Paint Creek flows within sight of travelers on the West Virginia Turnpike for more than 20 miles, between Pax, in Fayette County, and Standard, in Kanawha.

"We used to be a dumping ground for the area," Siemiaczko said. "Think how many people pass by here and get their first impressions of West Virginia by what they see."

Paint Creek group busy with improvement projects

In the Paint Creek Watershed Association's first five years of operation alone, its volunteers:

• Removed more than 11,000 bags of trash, 865 tons of solid waste and 4,000 vehicle tires from the stream and its banks
• Built a stream improvement structure, a fishing pier, three picnic shelters and a walking track at Ash Branch behind the Turnpike's Morton Service Plaza
• Built a boat ramp on the Kanawha at Hansford
• Completed a limestone sand project to neutralize acid mine drainage in a tributary stream near Burnwell
• Stocked more than 15,000 brown trout fingerlings

"We're doing our part," said Siemiaczko. "We'd like to do more. So far, the watershed association has paid $50,000 for the work being done at Hollygrove," which is the first of many planned tasks to be completed before stream structures are installed along the 15-mile expanse of Paint Creek between Hollygrove and Mahan.

Since the watershed association lacks the funds needed to complete the project, Siemiaczko said he is calling for the governor, Kanawha County's legislative delegation, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Kanawha County Commission to "meet with us in order to find the resources" to complete the project.

Work now underway at Hollygrove was supported in part by the West Virginia Conservation Agency and the DEP's Stream Restoration Fund and Watershed Improvement Branch.