September 01, 2009
Crews prepare to install a root wad – a tree trunk with exposed roots - to help direct the creek’s water flow and stabilize the new channel bed and banks at the north end of the project site.
Change is coming to Cole Creek in the Benson-Ames Alliance.
Cole Creek, part of Omaha’s local floodplain system, is the subject of a pilot project that seeks to stabilize the creek, improve its water quality and enhance the recreational use of Orchard Park. The project area, a $1.6 million investment in the Benson-Ames Alliance, runs from Sorensen Parkway through Orchard Park to Hartman Avenue.
Work on the stream restoration phase of the project is well under way, said Selma Kessler, an engineer with the Environmental Quality Control Division of Omaha’s Public Works Department. This phase is restoring the creek’s more natural flow path and incorporating a number of construction techniques to slow the flow of water.
The north channel of the creek near Sorensen Parkway has been realigned. An overbank flow area was created, and several techniques were employed to stabilize the banks. Rock vanes, riffles and sills, and root wads – tree trunks with exposed roots – were installed to help direct the water flow and stabilize the channel bed and new banks. The banks have been graded and temporarily seeded.
In the coming weeks, the crews will turn their attention to the middle section of the creek. A second channel realignment is planned, and a third bioretention garden will be created to treat stormwater runoff from the Orchard Park tennis courts before it enters the creek.
Earlier this year, crews constructed two bioretention gardens in Orchard Park. The gardens, examples of stormwater best management practices, capture and cleanse stormwater runoff before it enters the creek. They also attract a variety of wildlife. “I recently saw a male goldfinch pulling seeds off one of the coneflowers,” Kessler said. “It’s great to see the existing gardens working according to plan.”
World O! Water Sept. 13
On Sunday, Sept. 13, The Cole Creek Project will participate in Keep Omaha Beautiful’s annual World O! Water festival. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held from noon to 4:00pm at the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resource District’s Natural Resources Center at Wehrspann Lake, 154th Street and Giles Road. It will feature music by Mike Mennard, prizes and drawings, demonstrations, canoeing, kid’s science experiments, water education, games, entertainment and free food (while supplies last).
For more information about The Cole Creek Project, visit www.colecreek.org. For more information about the Benson-Ames Alliance, visit www.benson-ames.org.
The Cole Creek Project is a partnership of the City of Omaha Departments of Public Works and Parks, Recreation and Public Property; Roncalli Catholic High School; Douglas County; Omaha by Design; the Benson-Ames Alliance; Big Muddy Workshop; Hayes Environmental L.L.C.; Lamp, Rynearson & Associates; and Olsson Associates. It is funded by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District. For more information, contact Omaha by Design at 402.554.4010 or info@omahabydesign.org.