Honey Creek Restoration - Serving Form & Function
Written by: Nick Connor, Ruekert & Mielke Inc.
A Challenged Ecosystem in Need of Restoration
The Honey Creek Headwaters and Stream Restoration Project is the revitalization of the City of Greenfield’s most used park – Konkel Park. The project area included a 0.92-mile segment of Honey Creek that had been overgrown with buckthorn, filled with sediment, and had no natural inputs. Originally, the headwaters area was not a defined stream; it was a diverse marsh complex that was channelized to facilitate drainage. Later, sections downstream were lined with concrete. This created numerous problems for the community including flooding, serving as a habitat for invasive species, such as cattails and reed canary grass, overgrowth of buckthorn, and restricted flow in the main channel. These issues caused stagnant backwater pools, street flooding, and severely eroded banks.
The City of Greenfield partnered with Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. (R/M) with the goal of restoring the Honey Creek headwaters and providing an additional 1.3 million gallons of floodplain storage to the community. Through a feasibility study, the City confirmed that the waterway was significantly impaired causing blocked flow, reduced storage capacity, and interrupted aquatic connectivity. The primary goals for the project were to improve urban biodiversity within the stream and riparian habitat, and increase community enjoyment of the City’s most utilized park, but the teams from the City of Greenfield and R/M accomplished that and so much more.
Achieving Goals Through Natural Channel Design
By implementing natural channel design principles, the project team crushed their goals. The Honey Creek Headwaters now holds an additional 1,293,000 gallons of storm water, which has decreased flooding in surrounding streets during rain events. It also has 1,800 linear feet of additional stream through increased sinuosity and stream re-alignment. This restoration method has given Honey Creek a new breath of life.
Other outcomes of the restabilization project include:
- 6.36 acres of restored floodplain
- 1.3 miles of stream bank stabilization
- 415 lbs of annual phosphorus reduction
- 16.259 lbs of Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and 45.51 lbs of total phosphorus (TP) were captured by the storm water pond installed adjacent to the creek.
Enhancing Community and Educational Opportunities
The Honey Creek restoration project illustrates the effectiveness of a design that incorporates not only the functional goals of the project such as habitat restoration, streambank stabilization, and floodplain capacity, but also the formal goals that increase recreational and educational opportunities.
The park now offers:
- Boardwalks
- Fishing Piers
- Outdoor Classrooms
- Fishing Pond
- Public Shelter
Located within walking distance of Greenfield High School and Edgewood Elementary School, it has offered a space for the surrounding students to gain a hands-on learning approach. The biology teacher at Greenfield High School has already begun designing a unit in his curriculum around the Honey Creek project. The students will learn about urbanization, the effects of built environments on natural environments, and be able to see their studies applied within their own community.
Through the installation of a boardwalk interpretive trail and nature trail access through the restored wetland, and an outdoor classroom accompanied by access from nearby school grounds, the Honey Creek headwaters project area gives community members new ways to enjoy Konkel Park!
About the Guest Blogger
Senior Biologist Nick Connor, MS, has a focus on urban river systems and Environmental Risk Assessment. His technical experience is in critical issues and feasibility studies, ecological restoration, stream restoration, and slope stabilization for water quality and habitat improvement to help achieve both development and watershed management goals. Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. is a 100% employee-owned civil engineering firm with more than 75 years of service to local communities and organizations. R/M is a long-member ACEC Wisconsin member.