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barn and wool wagon at Hubbell Trading Post
Bill Zeedyke is a wildlife biologist from New Mexico. Since his retirement
from the U.S. Forest Service he has been developing and testing some innovative methods
for restoring healthy ecosystems in riparian areas of the southwest--mostly in his home
state of New Mexico. In 1999 he began working on the section of Colorado Wash that passes
through the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. The Army Corps of Engineers had built massive
gabion structures and dug a
straight channel for the stream bed. When Bill arrived the stream bed was a twelve foot deep
trench. While trenching and armoring washes may be necessary in some urban
situations--where human encroachment has disregarded the natural behavior of waterways--it
made little sense here. Bill set about restoring a natural stream bed by which he means
one that allows the stream channel to meander the way streams normally do, depositing silt
on point bars and thereby allow grasses and other native riparian vegetation to be
reestablished. Such a configuration can better absorb the impact of major flood events.
 Bill Zeedyke at Largo Creek in New Mexico
Bill calls his technique "induced meandering." Meandering is
induced by using native materials to build low-tech structures (baffles, riffle-weirs, and
vanes) that slow the speed of stream flow and direct flow first one direction and then the
other. The placement of these structures is based on rather precise calculations Bill has
devised building from Rosgen stream classification system (http://loki.stockton.edu/~epsteinc/rosgen~1.htm).
Bank cutting can actually be a sign of stream health. Bill's structures
promote bank cutting which results in deposition of materials on point bars and the stream
bottom. The point bars are where native plants can be reestablished. The structures Bill
has introduced on Colorado Wash at Hubbell have raised the stream bed several feet. Some
of his original structures have been buried as a new flood plain has benn built. The
goal is not to control the stream at flood stages--that is impossible. The goal is to
restore a natural stream configuration the fosters water retention in the stream margins
and underlying aquifer, reduces scouring erosion, and reestablished a health ecosystem to
support native plant and wildlife.
The images above show a baffle being started by Ed Blanchard (first
two) on Largo Creek in New Mexico in September, 2001. The juniper poles were cut off at
about twelve inches above grade and branches woven in between. The third image is of a
baffle-weir constructed nearby only six months prior. The plant growth within the weir
emerged post-construction.
Bill has been working at Hubbell since 1999. This is another
characteristic of this work. You must be prepared to come back for a number of
years. There are no one-shot solutions to bringing back degraded riparian streams. VOAz became involved in 2003
with final work on some of the basic structures and extensive planting of native species.
Here is a web link
for more information about Bill's work.
Here is a link to information about Hubbell Trading Post
(http://www.nps.gov/hutr/)
Upcoming Events
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Completed Work
| Number of Events: 4 | | Total Volunteer Hours: 0 | | Total Participants: 0 |
Completed Event Reports
| March 11 - 12, 2006 Riparian Stream Restoration | | 
A spring snow storm kept all but three VOAz volunteers at home.
Those that made it from AZ and New Mexico did a final round of planting. |
| March 11 - 13, 2005 Riparian Stream Restoration | | 
Grand Falls on the Little Colorado was a worthwhile stop on the way to or from Ganado
Ten VOAz volunteers (Marilynn Grieser, Barbara Bruno, Jim Mathus, Brenda FairKiyan,
Rita Vautrin, Lee Milne, Robin Wright, Michael Baker, Conrad Griese, and Ted
Osmond) converged on this magical place to continue the riparian
stream restoration work planned and supervised by the master of "induced
meandering" Bill Zeedyk. Along volunteers from the University of New Mexico and
local staff of Bill's we planted 80 desert shrub about 50 cottonwood poles and
an uncountable number of willows. Our sense of the worth of this effort was
strengthen by the knowledge that between 80 and 90 percent of the planting we
completed.
The Colorado Wash was heavy with winter run off. Bill has never seen it this
high since he started working here in 1998.
Several nasty side drainages have been created by changes made to road runn-off
outside the trading post boundaries. The planting mainly will serve to
dress up the eroded banks.
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| March 13 - 14, 2004 Riparian Stream Restoration | | Another magnificent seven returned to Hubbell for an intensive planting project on
March 13 and 14. They were joined by University of New Mexico students and a crew of
locals. One hundred twenty five potted plants (Wood's Rose, New Mexico Olive and
Hackberry) were set on the margins of the flood plain that has been reestablished by this
project. Plains Cottonwood poles (38) were the hardest to set because of the need for
three to four foot holes that would reach the water table. About 1,600 of three willow
species were also planted.
We tried some new techniques for us, planting potted seedlings and cottonwood poles
higher on the bank to make them safer from flood flows. Also, for the first time, we tried
used irrigation tubes so that planted specimens can be watered through the first growing
season for improved survival. Hopefully that will protect out sweat equity and insure
future smiles of sweet success.
work done perviously at the trading post has raised the stream bed and
replaced a straight trench with a meandering channel and reestablished a flood plane. Over the next
few years additional work will be undertaken to extend the native plant coverage and
provided wildlife cover.
Thanks to everyone, the guys in particular, we ate very well.
As usual, someone just has to make a fashion statement. Actual
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