Construction should take about six months to complete
SOMERSET, Ky. (July 31, 2014) — Groundbreaking is scheduled for Aug. 8 on Kentucky’s newest in-lieu fee program wetlands and stream restoration project just below the Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery at Jamestown.
The project includes construction of the nearly mile-and-a-quarter-long restoration of Hatchery Creek that has been in the planning stages nearly five years.
The ground-breaking ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. (CDT) at the national hatchery, located off U.S. 127 below Wolf Creek Dam.
Water flowing from the hatchery has over time eroded a gully that funnels undesirable fine sediments into the Cumberland River. This project is an ambitious venture to change this undesirable situation and create in its place a stream that provides high quality habitat for fish.
The plan calls for the grouted channel now carrying the flow from the hatchery for approximately 380 feet to be reworked into a more natural stream setting. After construction, this new channel will remain open to the public.
Water leaving this section currently flows into the deeply incised and eroding gully. This gully will be partially filled in, diverting water into the newly created stream.
The new stream will flow down the valley more than a mile through created riffles, runs, glides and pools that have been carefully designed to offer attractive habitat for aquatic wildlife. It will at times split into multiple channels and flow through sections surrounded by wetlands. This is all intended to provide a variety of stream flow velocities, depths, habitat types and temperature gradients for aquatic wildlife, including trout.
The final piece of the new stream slopes through a series of step pools for about 400 feet before emptying into the Cumberland River, allowing trout to move between the river and the newly created stream.
The $1.8 million project should take about six months to complete.
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