Historic Mason District Park is a bustling community park that features a large natural area, hiking trails, a tennis court, sports fields, amphitheater, and a playground. Visitors to the park may notice that there is marker called Mason’s Hill that represent a strategic location used by Confederate Col. J.E.B. Stuart following the First Battle of Manassas in the Civil War. This park is not only rich with history and community value, but, now it will have environmental value. Adjacent to the park is Turkeycock Run stream which is currently being restored by EQR.
EQR was contracted by Fairfax County’s Stormwater Planning Division and Utility Design and Construction Division to restore approximately 1,575 linear feet of Turkeycock Run using natural channel design techniques. The primary goal of this restoration is to stabilize the channel and prevent future erosion and degradation along the stream. This project will impact a large portion of the park’s trail network and include replacement of an existing pedestrian bridge. Temporary closures will be implemented to ensure the safety of the public and the project team.
This has been an interesting project for many reasons. For one, we typically work from upstream to downstream when starting a stream restoration project. Halfway through the project, the crew found that there was a fox den with a possible pregnant fox inside. Always conscious of animal life, we decided to skip this section and go 100 feet downstream from the fox den to give time for the mother fox to give birth. After installing a game trail camera and not seeing her for two weeks we went back into the area to finish the construction.
Another interesting feature on that the design of this project includes many structures that enhance habitat for wildlife such as upside-down root wads and cross vanes. On some stream restoration projects, we are forced to cut down trees that are in the way of our restoration efforts. With this design we were able to re-purpose many of those trees into the root wad and cross vane structures. The root wad structures were made to provide structural support to the stream bank as well as support habitat for fish and other aquatic animals and provides food for aquatic insects. The cross vanes are used to protect the stream bank by directing the thalweg away from the stream bank and towards the center of the channel. Cross vanes also improve in-stream habitat through scour, oxygenation and cover.
EQR has been proud to work on this restoration site and on our Will Bunn Day of Service our Turkeycock Run crew collected an estimated 25 bags of trash around the site. Active construction is anticipated to be complete by early June 2018. Once the project is complete, the community will have a beautiful, effective, and habitat rich stream that they can be proud of as they walk the parks trail network.
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As environmental construction experts for over 26 years, Environmental Quality Resources is proud of our mission of working outdoors to preserve and protect our watershed in a positive way. Visit us online or give us a call at (410) -923-8680 to get more information and see if we are what you’re looking for. Looking to see what we are currently working on and more about our company? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube!