Grey clouds soar quietly in the wet sky above and reflect along the sparkling waves of the Little Gunpowder that flows through Monkton, Maryland. To most in the area, May 6, 2020, serves as just another rainy day in the “new normal”. To Ecotone, a welcome challenge awaits, teasing the potential for a new and improved thriving ecosystem. The only thing standing in Ecotone’s way? A historic, 60 foot-wide, 6 foot-tall, concrete dam built in 1968.
 
Per the current landowner’s accounts, the dam powered a water pump that conveyed water to the farming operations on the property. The original purpose phased out quite some time ago, and the dam stands merely as a fortification, inhibiting fish passage.

Ecotone utilized mechanical means to demolish the dam by way of a 50,000-pound tracked excavator and a 10,000-pound hydraulic hammer. The existing concrete was notched incrementally to decrease the backwater at a controllable rate. With all the backwater released; demolition commenced.  What took probably weeks to originally construct, got reduced to rubble in a matter of hours or in just under ten seconds as seen in this video. Ecotone removed concrete remnants from Little Gunpowder River and replaced the dam with a riffle structure. Built entirely from existing, natural river gravels that had collected behind the dam over the past 50 years, the riffle structure adds vital habitat for aquatic inhabitants.  “The transformation in such a short timeframe has been truly quite amazing.  If you didn’t know it, you would never guess there was ever any man-made structure blocking this river at all!” said Chris Kidd, Ecotone Project Manager.
 
At about 25 miles in length and contained within a 4,000-acre watershed, Little Gunpowder River, a natural boundary between Baltimore and Harford County, runs through Gunpowder Falls State Park, Maryland’s largest state park.
 
Thank you’s go out to the Harford Soil Conservation District, the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund, a very gracious and environmentally mindful landowner, and the Ecotone staff who helped make this landmark removal possible. Through vital partnerships, a historic dam’s reign ends; and the renewed life of a babbling, unrestricted river system begins.

Ecotone is assisting Towson University (TU) complete rehabilitation construction and retrofitting for 7 stormwater conveyance and best management practice (BMP) facilities located throughout the university campus. Ecotone completed retrofitting of bioretention facilities associated with Unitas Stadium and the Towsontown Parking Garage. This included complete removal of sediment and replacement of deteriorated drainage components, installation of gabion stone matress’ to increase the conveyance of stormwater for better bioretention , and installation of new bioretention soil, sand, and gravel layers to ensure optimal performance of the facilities now and in the future. Ecotone finished the sites in close coordination with the contracted design team and University construction and landscape specialists to ensure the final product was an effective stormwater treatment systems that also met the landscaping and aesthetic standards of the University. “Ecotone has been a reliable and responsible partner in helping Towson University restore and replace aging stormwater facilities and structures.” stated Rance Burger, Towson University Construction Manager.

Not only are we retrofitting existing Bioretention facilities, we are also replacing damaged/outdated stormwater conveyance infrastructure with new systems meeting modern standards. This includes the complete replacement of an endwall and heavily damaged concrete surface conveyance channel with a subsurface piping and manholes for better conveyance at the intersection of Osler and Cross Campus Drives. Ecotone has the in-house know-how and resources to be a one stop shop for all stormwater management upgrade needs.
 
”These stormwater management systems feed the streams we restore and it is just as important to improve existing stormwater infrastructure as it is to restore the streams themselves.  These retrofitting projects reduce the sediment and pollutants entering the streams we restore and help to increase the ecological uplift achieved in downstream ecosystems, including the Chesapeake Bay. Having the in-house expertise to assist clients do both is very rewarding,” said Mark Magness, Project Manager at Ecotone.

You plant a gorgeous site and cover the hopes of a beautiful, thriving forest in biodegradable tree shelters. We, ecological restorers, have all been there – it’s not because it looks good, but because we want to protect these valuable resources, especially from being consumed by deer.
 
At times it works out, but sometimes it doesn’t. Although biodegradable, tree shelters often take many years to degrade. Some of Ecotone’s sites, still have tree shelters after over twenty years. Additionally, voles and field mice love the habitat tree shelters provide. They also love the bark of the trees that they kill when they live in the shelters. Tree shelters come with many costs – installation, material, and, unfortunately, the cost of a tree’s healthy life. When trees and shelters blow over with a young tree growing inside, the remaining tree is left to grow with deformities that greatly impact its existence.
 
Don’t get Ecotone wrong – we do have success using tree shelters, but all these costs got us thinking. What if, what we always believed regarding tree shelters isn’t true?
 
After traveling around the world and visiting places like Scotland, New Zealand, and Australia, we’ve found that better, ecological solutions exist – one of them being Behavioral Deer Exclusion Fencing.
 
Exclusion fencing protects future forests without harming them. Engineered to play against deer’s poor depth perception, these fences stand 5-6ft tall and are built at a 45-degree angle. While deer can easily clear this fencing, by adding the extra angle, it makes deer not want to. At Ecotone, we also train deer to be wary of the fencing installed on our sites by electrifying it and hanging peanut butter. Deer learn like we do – peanut butter that shocks, is not worth it.
 
Although not 100% successful, the savings are there. Say, the fence works to exclude 80% of a 100-animal deer herd. That is 80 less deer that have an opportunity to feast on a future forest allowing trees to grow naturally and regenerate. In projects where we have installed fencing, we see 70-80 percent cost savings as well.
 
You get better ecological outcomes with much lower cost and improved aesthetics. All it requires is to look at nature a little bit differently than we have been and using nature to restore nature.

​​Ecotone is proud to support the Center for Watershed protection (CWP) as a sponsor for the 2018 National Watershed and Stormwater Conference scheduled for April 10, 2018. The conference will provide real-world solutions with detailed examples from case studies and lessons learned from past approaches so that attendees have a firm grasp of tangible solutions and industry best-practices.

This year’s conference theme is Next Gen Watershed Protection: Fresh Ideas for Funding and Management. The national webcast talks are designed to help today’s water quality experts not only address pollution but also navigate the world of uncertain program funding and regulatory oversight that can jeopardize watershed restoration projects. 

For attendees in the Hub locations, who want to learn about the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Phase III Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs), there will be speakers from the Maryland Department of the Environment  and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality sharing their progress and successful approaches to meeting plan requirements focused on restoring the Chesapeake Bay.

Doug Propheter, our Chief Administrative Officer along with Jessica Cherwich and Steve Pawlak, our Business Development Specialists will also be participating at this conference. Please stop by the Ecotone display table in the exhibit area to meet with our team and learn about our sustainable ecological restoration solutions.

We invite you to meet the Ecotone team at the 23rd Maryland Water Monitoring Council Annual Conference (MWMC) being held at  the Maritime Conference Center, North Linthicum, MD, on Friday, December 8, 2017. 

We will be sharing our insights and best-practices with the industry during the presentation sessions. Our team will also be available at the Ecotone booth to discuss ideas for sustainable restoration and share some cool swag.

Session #1: 
Lessons learned in planning and practice: using "less is more" as a sustainable restoration approach.

Presenter:
Catherine Hoy and Clay Word

Abstract: 
Approximately 2,400 linear feet of First Mine Run, located within a brook trout watershed in northern Baltimore County, were restored using a quasi-legacy sediment removal technique/natural channel design approach. The project was designed with the “Less is More” philosophy of sustainable restoration. The use of on-site material including logs, rootwads, and stream channel substrate was maximized. Efforts were taken to reduce the use of furnished materials. Where possible, furnished materials were sought locally. The project was implemented in the Summer of 2017.

The results of the project will be presented including a comparison of salvaged verses furnished materials in planning and in practice. Post-construction stream stability assessments immediately after construction and in the months to follow after storm events will be included. Additionally, an estimate of the carbon savings accomplished by using furnished material will be presented. Any unexpected results and/or challenges will be included as Lessons Learned. This project is meant to serve as a case study for sustainable restoration. ​

Author Bio:
Catherine Hoy is the Director of Design for Ecotone Inc.’s Mid-Atlantic Region. Catherine has 12 years of professional experience developing stream restoration and provides design support for construction and mitigation projects. Interestingly, she actually has an art background which allows her to use her artistic vision to inspire her team’s innovative and creative designs. By shedding the constraints of traditional stream restoration engineering techniques, Ecotone’s Design team is able to produce sustainable projects that focus on ecological uplift and harmony. Outside of Ecotone, she spends it with her family, hiking and painting. 

Session #2: 
Using ecosystem services to generate TMDL credit – outside the box thinking for a changing world.

Presenter:
Scott McGill
​
Abstract: 
Stream restoration projects which include riparian restoration, floodplain reconnection, and floodplain conservation easements create ecological conditions favorable to the North American Beaver (Castor canadensis). Restoration practitioners on multiple continents are employing adaptive management and the ecosystem services of the North American Beaver and the European beaver to generate landscape scale improvements to water quality and sediment storage. By designing a project to anticipate and encourage colonization of beaver and dam building as part of the project’s long term ecological performance, designers and practitioners can utilize the ecosystem services provided by beaver to provide dynamic resiliency and regeneration as well as TMDL credits.

In this presentation, techniques and methods which encourage beaver colonization will be reviewed, including planting regimes to develop food sources, floodplain reconnection to maximize stream power distribution across the floodplain, designing for long term aggradation, requiring more expansive conservation easements, and incorporating analog dams within a design. Stream monitoring and success criteria that embrace beaver colonization as a sign of project success will also be discussed. A pilot project using ecosystem services generated by the beaver to deliver TMDL and stream restoration credit will be shared.

Author Bio:
Scott McGill is the Founder and CEO at Ecotone, Inc. an Inc. 5000 ecological restoration company with offices in Forest Hill, Columbia, MD, and Charlottesville, VA. Scott has over 27 years of applied experience in both design and construction of ecological restoration projects throughout the United States. His “less is more” approach to design and construction that incorporate conservation biology and adaptive management is widely accepted as the model for sustainable cost effective ecological restoration. 

To learn more about this event, please visit ​http://dnr.maryland.gov/streams/Pages/MWMC/conference.aspx 

​A mitigation bank is a wetland, stream, or other aquatic resource area that has been restored, established, enhanced, or in certain circumstances preserved for the purpose of providing compensation for unavoidable impacts to aquatic resources permitted under Section 404 or a similar state or local wetland regulation.

A mitigation bank may be created when a government agency, corporation, nonprofit organization, or other entity undertakes these activities under a formal agreement with a regulatory agency. Mitigation banks have four distinct components:
​

• The Bank Site: the physical acreage restored, established, enhanced, or preserved;
• The Bank Instrument: the formal agreement between the bank owners and regulators establishing liability, performance standards, management and monitoring requirements, and the terms of bank credit approval;
• The Interagency Review Team: the inter-agency team that provides regulatory review, approval, and oversight of the bank; and
• The Service Area: the geographic area in which permitted impacts can be compensated for at a given bank.

The value of a bank is defined in "compensatory mitigation credits." A bank's instrument identifies the number of credits available for sale and requires the use of ecological assessment techniques to certify that those credits provide the required ecological functions. Although most mitigation banks are designed to compensate only for impacts to various wetland types, some banks have been developed to compensate specifically for impacts to streams (i.e., stream mitigation banks).

Mitigation banks are a form of "third-party" compensatory mitigation, in which the responsibility for compensatory mitigation implementation and success is assumed by a party other than the permittee. This transfer of liability has been a very attractive feature for Section 404 permit-holders, who would otherwise be responsible for the design, construction, monitoring, ecological success, and long-term protection of the site.

Mitigation banking has a number of advantages over traditional permittee-responsible compensatory mitigation because of the ability of mitigation banking programs to:

• Reduce uncertainty over whether the compensatory mitigation will be successful in offsetting project impacts;
• Assemble and apply extensive financial resources, planning, and scientific expertise not always available to many permittee-responsible compensatory mitigation proposals;
• Reduce permit processing times and provide more cost-effective compensatory mitigation opportunities; and
• Enable the efficient use of limited agency resources in the review and compliance monitoring of compensatory mitigation projects because of consolidation.

Knowledge Credit: 

• www.epa.gov/cwa-404/mitigation-banking-factsheet 
• http://www.nab.usace.army.mil/Missions/RegulatoryA/Mitigation/