The official start to summer in New York coincided with another historic storm coming on the heels of a very rainy spring.
A little extra rain amplifies lush green landscapes and healthy flowing rivers.
However, we’ve again witnessed what happens when massive storms carrying a deluge of water and debris, head directly for a small community like the Village of Waterville.
Local partners are collaborating to stabilize Big Creek to be more resilient when these increasingly frequent storms occur.
For more than 120 years, Big Creek has been impounded, channelized and separated from its natural floodplain. These unnatural alterations, especially efforts to straighten Big Creek, have not come without a cost.
Historically, the practice of straightening streams or “channelization” was widespread in the US. Channelization often resulted in rerouting the river up against a valley wall. While this action enlarged tracts of land for farming, homes, and roads, it also contributed to the development of landslides, road failures and flooding.
Landslides contribute tons of sediment into streams, playing a major role in the pattern of the channel. Likewise, historical development of floodplains for farming, roads and housing was common given the deep, flat, fertile soils deposited by the stream.
However, we now know that floodplains are a critical part of the stream during a storm, slowing down and spreading out the torrent. Without connected, well vegetated floodplains to collect and contain those flows, catastrophic damages occur as large storms roll in.
Organizations like Trout Unlimited, the US Fish & Wildlife Service and the Oneida County Soil and Water Conservation District, collaborate to provide technical expertise on watershed restoration and floodplain reconnection.
In the late Fall of 2024, Jamie Bechy, the Village of Waterville’s Superintendent of Public Works, approached these partners to address instability on Big Creek, a trout stream near the former pavilion. Trout Unlimited led design efforts for Phase 3 of the Big Creek Project at Firemen’s field.
TU’s survey documented collapsing streambanks and disconnected floodplains. With support from the village, a design to reconnect the floodplain was developed and funded with county flood mitigation dollars.
“Residents may have noticed the large rocks and trees brought in for the restoration work on Big Creek,” Jo-Anne Humphreys, local resident and stream restoration specialist for Trout Unlimited, explained prior to the project starting. “The completed site will be revegetated with native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers. All necessary permits have been secured. Trees removed for initial site preparation are being repurposed for stream bank stabilization and habitat improvement. By late summer, Big Creek will regain access to its long-abandoned floodplain.”
A community planting event in the fall offered residents a chance to help re-establish the stream’s natural forested buffer. Before long, Big Creek will transition from being a community problem into a neighborhood asset, a place where people can fish for native brook trout or enjoy a picnic.