River Bank Plan Still In The Works

FORT COVINGTON - The town of Fort Covington is looking to complete a bank restoration project on a section of the Salmon River where the river's edge has begun to erode away, but the work has not yet gotten the green light.

"This is something that's in the planning stages," Town Supervisor Patricia Manchester said. "Nothing's definite. We're trying to find funding."

Ms. Manchester said the town wants to do the restoration project to keep the bank from being cut away by the moving water as it is now. The project would involve installing a riprap - rock or other material used to strengthen shorelines and riverbanks.

The device would extend the rock in the bank in order to build it up, she said. She said heavy rains and January flooding washed the banks away in recent years.

Ms. Manchester noted it would take some time before the banks totally erode away and the issue becomes more urgent, but she said she wants the town to be proactive by trying to get a project going now.

"I don't want to wait years," she said. "This is something I'm trying to do."

Ms. Manchester said the town council will continue to discuss the issue and look into the costs of the project.

At Monday night's meeting, Manchester also said silt discharged into the river did not appear to be moving since the town removed an aging dam from the Salmon River last year.

"It's just a mass of sediment," she said. She added that the town might also look into a dredging project, which would remove the silt from the river and use it to build up the riverbank.

In January, severe flooding hit portions of the town. Officials attributed the flooding to an ice jam that became lodged on a silt bed that had accumulated in the river - dropping the water level significantly - since a century-old dam was removed in July 2009.

During the development of the dam removal project, the town had rejected the dredging option because it is extremely expensive.

Officials first hoped the river's natural flow would remove the silt and sediment. However, a report issued to the town board suggests the deposits will not flush out of the waterway for another two to three years.

Approximately 48,000 cubic yards of silt and sediment was released when engineers predicted a release of only 1,000 cubic yards. The silt and sediment was believed to have resulted from heavy summer rains that washed the river's banks into the water.