The Falling Spring Greenway, Inc. and Ecotone approached the landowners, Galen and Sandra Powers, in 2008 about performing some much needed restoration on their property in Guilford Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Falling Spring had been dammed in the past within this reach, and the channel was overwide, providing minimal habitat for aquatic species, including the abundant trout population for which the cold water spring creek is famous.

Ecotone developed a design for the impaired stream that would maximize habitat for trout. A series of converging roller eddies were planned to direct flows into bankside cover enhanced with hidden lunker structures. The entire 900 feet of channel was narrowed from greater than 50 feet in some areas to an average channel width of 14 feet. Several converging rock clusters and vegetated soil lifts were also incorporated into the design. The Powers had spent many years landscaping their property and had installed extensive gardens on the property. Ecotone designed a landscape plan which incorporated riparian buffer for Falling Spring while integrating the existing gardens into the protected riparian areas.

Ecotone's construction crew installed the restoration measures in the summer of 2010. Within days after construction, trout were observed utilizing the deeper pools and vegetated bankside cover that were integral to the design. Ecotone will be monitoring the restoration site for 5 years as required by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. When commenting on the Powers property restoration project, one board member of the Falling Spring Greenway, Inc. was quoted in an email..."your people did an incredible job on the property. It is a magnificent piece of stream restoration...it's striking. It's the crown jewel...We don't inherit land from our parents; we borrow it from our children."

Click here to see video of the Falling Spring Stream Restoration