We did some great, fun design work today. Parts from Ebay are great for this; you get the weird industrial thing for 25% of its new price, and can re-Ebay it if it doesn't do the job.
On restoringrivers today, news of another sad case of the Rosgenization of our work. This one way too close to home; on a drainage network I've done a lot of pro bono work to help.
I called a friend with Prairie Rivers there. I don't know all the details (please prove me wrong), but from my experience , this one goes like others I've seen:
Deep pockets entity does bad thing or has accident > judgment, fine, mitigation money (needs to be a lot)> Rosgen-trained consultant appears > (insert a lot of politics, and pseudoscience here, aquatic ecosystem sometimes completely ignored)> J-hooks, Vortex Wiers (tm)--always "riffles" of some kind. Even if the stream had none before. These riffles are the method's dirty secret, heavy handed energy dissipaters to keep the meandering stream from meandering any more.
The Salt Fork situation up in Champaign is a good example** of why we're focusing less on consulting and more on education. It's hard to stand up to this hijacking of science and our profession of stream restoration.
**Update. I'm getting mixed news about this project--it may've not been built yet (11/29/2007)--more later.Labels: development, illinois, management, restoration, Rosgen, salt fork
