South Creek Stream Habitat Restoration

The Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organization proposes to restore and improve stream habitat within South Creek, a trout stream tributary to the Vermillion River. The restoration will consist of a multitude of different features that will provide new and improved habitats, increase sinuosity, improve aeration, reduce stream temperatures, and stabilize eroding slopes. Those features include removing select trees that block the flow within the channel; narrowing and stabilization of the stream banks in select locations using either brush mats with boulder toes or seed with blanket; and the installation of cover boulders, rock veins, rootwads, stream barbs, backwater pools, cobble, and tree pins. Furthermore, the channel will be narrowed throughout portions of the parcel, which should combine with the habitat features to improve habitat and maintain a channel substrate with significantly less sand and fine sediment.