may prairie
The project consists of restoring portions of unnamed tributary, which we will call May Prairie Stream, and an un-named tributary to that stream in the state-owned May Prairie State Natural Area near Manchester, TN. Prior to resto-ration, the stream was historically channelized throughout the majority of the project reach for agricultural draining. The first section of the stream ran through an oak forest, and then it entered into a managed prairie grassland before flowing back into another area of oak forest where it became more diffused and braided. While the stream displayed some stable characteristics, it lacked natural pattern and bedform with half of the channel confined to a roadside ditch. These factors severely limited the natural functions of the stream’s ecosystem. The restoration approach to this project was to place the channel back to the low-of-the-valley and build a channel with the appropriate dimensions and pattern. It was important to preserve the prairie area by allowing the natural vegetation to consume the riparian buffer, as May Prairie is one of the State’s most floristically diverse natural areas with 25 of its more than 300 plant species considered rare in Tennessee. With these objectives, the project has restored the May Prairie Stream back to a natural state.
Service Area: Lower Tennessee
Watershed: Upper Duck River
Project Length: 4,757 linear feet
Date of Completion: November 2014
Pre restoration
Construction
POST CONSTRUCTION
