Finding Sensible Solutions When Values Compete

This photo illustrates the challenge of restoring a riverbank in a place where historic and recreational resources abound and are equally important. At this location along the Cuyahoga River (flowing away from the observer) has a large meander that is naturally migrating downstream and towards the Ohio and Erie Canal towpath shown on the right side of the photo. This reach of river was legislated into the National Park System as a National Recreation Area before later becoming a National Park. Its stated purposes included “…..preserving and protecting for public use and enjoyment the historic, scenic, natural, and recreational values of the Cuyahoga River and adjacent lands in the Cuyahoga Valley, and for the purpose of providing for the maintenance of needed recreational open space necessary to the urban environment”.

Historic resources in the park that also serve as recreational facilities include the Ohio and Erie Canal (including the towpath), the Valley Railway, and a number of houses and bridges. Many of these are on the National Register of Historic Places, and a portion of the Ohio and Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor, runs through the area. Natural resources include the river and a number of ecosystems with associated flora and fauna located in the river and in the river valley, as well as the rural countryside. As to recreational value, Cuyahoga Valley National Park is the 10th most visited park in the National Park system.

The problem to be solved at this and other locations in the park is to protect and preserve a park resource from the advance of the river or tributary using natural materials (rock riprap and vegetation). At this location, because the towpath was still no closer than about 30 feet from the top of riverbank and because the precise location of the future impingement could only be guessed, the solution was to construct several hundred feet of buried rock riprap windrow with a volume of little greater than one cubic yard per running foot. Windrows are designed to “launch” when a meander progresses enough to expose the buried rock, and once launched, to provide a thick enough sloping layer of riprap with large enough riprap to adequately protect the feature. A drainage fabric separated the top of riprap from the backfilled native soils, and dormant willow poles were planted along one side of the excavation to establish some native, deeper rooting vegetation.

One could allow the naturally meandering river to run wild (Cuyahoga means “crooked” river), thereby maximizing ecological values at the expense of threatening the historic and recreational values. On the other extreme, one could design a highly engineered system of concrete or sheetpile protective system to ensure that the river would advance no closer to the towpath trail. In this setting, neither extreme, both of which represent a zero sum game approach, offers a sensible solution. Rather all the values for which this park was created are balanced to provide a minimally invasive ecological solution that provides reasonable assurance that the resource will be preserved and that the public will be able to enjoy it.

Lessons Learned in Restoring Natural Ecosystems - Introduction



There’s been a significant effort by professionals in the fields of water resources/environmental engineering and aquatic biology to restore small and large degraded ecosystems whether they are located in coastal wetlands, freshwater wetlands, estuaries, rivers or streams. These systems are sometimes associated with an environmental permit for new project, but can also be associated with an existing feature that may be threatened by a natural system. For 10 years, I had the pleasure of working as our company’s lead person for projects at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Many of those projects involved the protection of man-made cultural, historic and recreational features from erosion and flooding from nearby streams and rivers. The photo above shows Yellow Creek (flowing towards the foreground) just upstream of its confluence with the Cuyahoga River where the creek crosses under the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. There’s a large bend (meander) in the stream at this location. The proximity of the creek to the railroad has threatened the stability of the railroad embankment on the right side of the photo. As part of this restoration, quarried rock riprap was placed along the railroad embankment to about the level of a 2-yr flood, and then extended away from the railroad as a low rock berm that separates the bank of the stream from the floodplain behind it where wetland trees, shrubs and grasses were planted. Natural vegetation was also placed on the railroad embankment above the top of the rock riprap. As a result, the natural effects of the stream meandering are arrested for the sake of preserving the cultural, historic and recreational resource. I led the planning, design, and construction oversight of a dozen projects similar to this one in the 23 mile Cuyahoga River corridor that comprises this National Park.

These projects provided me with valuable lessons in ecosystem restoration. The lessons helped these projects to be successful in meeting their intended objectives, and are universal in nature. I’ll elaborate more in subsequent blogs on these following lessons:

• Balancing cultural/historic/recreational values with ecological values.
• Understanding how rivers work.
• The importance of engineering in ecosystem restoration.
• The benefits of using of natural and native materials.
• The limitations of human efforts in the good work of restoration.

Serving in the Communion Service

One of the monthly events I most look forward to is the Parkminster Communion service, which happens on the first Sunday of every month. Sometimes I participate like all the congregants, and other times I get to serve by anointing with oil those who choose to be. This past Sunday I received an email sometime on Saturday to serve and I responded immediately with a “yes”.

I take on the role of an anointer feeling both the joy of being together with other believers, and feeling compassion for them. As they walk towards me after receiving the bread and cup, I try to remember their name. When they stop in front of me I speak their name before I begin to pray for them, while making the sign of the cross on their forehead with the oil from a tiny jar. While I typically don’t know their concerns, I know the God who loves them and I know He desires them to be healed. It might be a young married woman who desires a child, a teenager who’s struggling with their sexual identity, an adult dealing with physical pain or a discouraging doctor’s report. I often pray for the men I anoint that God would empower them to be the men that he has called them to be, filling them courage to be bold for Him.

Now and then I get to anoint those in my family, and especially Corinne. This Sunday, nine days after major surgery, I discerned that I should pray that God would continue to hear her far beyond what she could expect or imagine. I prayed that He would give her a bigger healing than she could ever expect.

In so many of the Bible stories, Jesus takes an event and makes it into much more. He takes the funeral of Lazarus and makes it into a resurrection. He creates a feast with extra food to spare for a weary, hungry crowd from 5 loaves and 2 fishes. He takes a wedding that’s short on wine and treats its participants to a finest of wines. In the same way, I want to believe, for each one that comes forward, that God desires a healing, an experience, a life that’s full of abundance, beyond their wildest dreams. That’s why don’t turn down the opportunity to serve His people through the communion service.

Walking Together By Faith, Through Life's Challenges

This is a “selfie” taken by my love, and wife Corinne, a little less than 24 hours after undergoing a robotic hysterectomy by laparoscopy. The photo shows her upbeat and positive approach to the recovery road that she’s now beginning. There are many emotions that I’ve felt and so many assurances of God’s love to Corinne and to me that I’ve received through this experience. It all began when I received Corinne’s call on my cell phone while standing in Interchange 10 at the New NY Bridge project, about to start an inspection of the project’s Rockland stormwater facilities. She told me that the report from her hysteroscopy showed some atypical cells in the lining of the uterus, and that a full hysterectomy was strongly recommended. I immediately became fearful. Within 2 weeks of the call, we had a consultation with the surgeon, Dr. Angel (recommended by OBGYN Dr. Victory) who did a great job of answering all our questions, and we agreed to the surgery.

We asked for prayers from the Parkminster congregation, the Parkminster Men’s Chorus, some co-workers at Bergmann Associates, friends, and family. Our requests extended further to include my supervisor at the New NY Bridge, who had the same surgery a few years ago. She totally understood that I would need to take a week off, and she offered to pray for Corinne. I also connected with a dear college friend, Ralph, who’s involved in a ministry of prayer. He told me on the day of the surgery he would be traveling alone by car somewhere, and would set aside a time to pray. My new Bible Study group from Redeemer Presbyterian Church, that I meet with on Wednesdays, prayed with me and asked for an update before the next meeting (which I would not be attending in person).

Corinne asked me to pray for her just minutes before she was to be rolled into surgery. As I leaned over her, trying not to pull any of her tubes off, I had this vision of God’s people praying for her, and I prayed confidently “Lord, unleash the prayers of your people onto Corinne and onto the medical team and bless every aspect of this operation”. I prayed that prayer believing that a reservoir full of prayers was about to burst over her, and carry her through the operation. I became sure and unafraid.

When Dr. Angel came to see me in the waiting area about 2 hours later, she reported to me that they had completed the surgery successfully, and had taken 3 scans, none of which indicated cancer. They did not need to prolong the surgery by taking lymph nodes from around the uterus. Of course, there would be full pathology tests, but the cancer risk was very low.

Not that we were still able to have more children, but this event also gives me pause to thank God again for the healthy equipment he provided Corinne with that enabled her to bear, and give birth to 3 children who are blessings to us and to God.

Now begins the recovery. For me, this week is a time to be home primarily to love on and serve Corinne, make sure she heals well, and maybe get a few other things done that are difficult to do when I am away. I miss being home and so far the cooking of meals, washing dishes, and sitting on a stool in my kitchen on my laptop computer has been pleasant.

God’s People Are Everywhere

In Christ there is no east or west, In Him no South or North; But one great fellowship of love Throughout the whole wide earth............ John Oxenham

For most of my adult life I have fellowshipped with God’s people at Parkminster Presbyterian Church, where I have learned both to receive and to give to the community of believers there. There have been two specific times when, for a period, I have been away from the comforts of my home fellowship. In each case I chose to seek fellowship with other believers, not knowing anyone in particular but knowing a little about the church.

In each case I was blessed by my choice to seek out other believers. The first was during the summer of 1976 when, between my undergraduate and graduate years of college, I was a summer intern at the United States Water Resources Council in Washington, DC. I remember the feelings of loneliness that swept over me as my brother dropped me off at the garden apartment I had rented in Arlington, VA. My pastor, Bill Showalter, had recommended I check out Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, MD. So I did that, and eventually got involved with Ambassadors, a fellowship group for post-college age men and women. From there I got to know a couple of guys who owned a house in NW Washington with an extra room, and I moved in with them. For most of that summer, I participated in Sunday worship, Ambassadors, and lived with two great Christian guys who took me under their wings. Near the end of the summer I got to lead a large group Ambassadors breakfast study of Proverbs which I had been reading on my own. Participants worked through the Proverbs passages and shared with each other at their breakfast tables. I was floored when near the end of the program the pastor stood up and said, “Who pulled together this study?” I responded that I had. He was quite complimentary of my work, which meant quite a bit to me as a newcomer and also because the pastor was Richard C. Halverson, who was very well known in Presbyterian circles and who later became the US Senate Chaplain.

The second has been this present time when I have been working in Tarrytown, NY on the New NY Bridge. For the first 6 months of the job, I plowed through the work week without much of a break, since there was plenty of work to do and plenty to learn. Even though I was home on the weekends and would participate in worship as usual, I was sometimes feeling dry and empty, and felt I needed something more. After I had been there about 6 months, Corinne was in New York for the weekend, and we attended a worship service at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in the Upper West part of Manhattan. Redeemer Presbyterian is Tim Keller’s church, one of many which is making a positive impact for Christ in New York City. I had read one of Tim’s books and have recently started another. After the service, we connected up with some people in the fellowship hall and I asked if there were any Bible Study groups meeting near Tarrytown. I found out there is a group meeting right in the Village of Tarrytown not more than 3 miles from my hotel. Since joining the group, we have been doing study of the book of John based on the sermon series and sharing and praying for each other. This experience has helped my faith walk and I have been blessed by this very multi-ethnic, highly educated group of believers. They are a thoughtful and caring people, who have welcomed me with open arms.

Through both these experiences I have learned that God’s people are everywhere, and I can believe with certainty that anywhere I go, if I seek fellowship with His people, I will find it.

Remembering the Collapse of the Thruway Bridge Over Schoharie Creek

When traveling to Albany and points south, on the New York State Thruway (I-90), I cross Schoharie Creek. This is a special bridge because it was here on Sunday April 5, 1987 at 10:50 AM that the former bridge collapsed killing 10 people. The 25th anniversary of this event was remembered in the link shown below. The collapse was caused by scouring of the bridge pier foundations during a flood event. This is a special bridge for me too, as the collapse of the bridge began a chain reaction from Thruway, State and Federal transportation officials to assure the safety of bridges constructed over streams and rivers. As a water resources engineer with only 10 years out of school with a couple of degrees, and some experience with hydraulic modeling and bridge scour, I didn’t understand how much this event would influence my career until many years later. Within a couple years after the event, the Thruway sought to conduct investigations of all their bridges over streams and rivers. They divided the Thruway into three sections, my company, Bergmann Associates, was selected to study all the bridges west of MP 310, (near Waterloo, NY) and I became the project manager of that study. I investigated the scour vulnerability of the I-90 bridges over many of our western NY streams including: Fall Brook, Canandaigua Outlet, Genesee River, Black Creek, Tonawanda Creek, Niagara River, Cattaraugus Creek and others. All engineers, but particularly those who work in or with the public sector, have a great responsibility to assure the safety of the public and in the case of highways and bridges, the traveling public. When we evaluate or design a highway, bridge, dam or other feature we take upon ourselves the responsibility for the lives of people who will use that facility now and in the future. This is why, in the chaos of work, we must never lose sight of those people who will be affected for better or worse by our decisions and actions. Even in the late 1980’s there was a lack of fully understanding the mechanism of bridge scour, and there was a lack of attention to the many scour critical bridges that posed a threat to the public. In light of what I now understand about bridge scour, this is astonishing and frightening. In my work on the Thruway bridges our team found significant design and maintenance deficiencies that we would not dream of allowing today. This is why we must never take the “know it all” attitude, but rather always approach our work with a measure of ignorance. There’s no way that I could have known when I was a college student, the significance of my training and how important that training would become for me later in life. Although I did not leave college with all the tools I would eventually need to study and design bridges to assure their safety from scour, I left with a solid enough foundation so that I could learn to address these problems. I completed my education believing in the basics of water resources engineering, and that I would someday use what I believed in to bless people but not seeing exactly how those skills would be used. This is why believing is seeing. Believing enables us to see what we could not otherwise see. http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/25-years-ago-the-bridge-was-gone-3460076.php

Celebrating the First Year of Graham Kelly’s Life

                                                                                                                                                                               

My wife and I had the pleasure of spending this past weekend at the home of our daughter, Jennica, and son-in-law, Tyler, the special occasion being our first grandson’s first birthday.  We were in town a year ago as a result of receiving word that Jennica’s water had broke, that she was being admitted to the hospital, and that she was not coming back home without a baby.   We decided to get some rest and make the long highway journey the next day, leaving at 8:30 AM.   We arrived at the hospital at 4:30 PM, and got to see Jennica and Tyler before the contractions had progressed too far.  Besides waiting for Graham to arrive, we saw the final round of a golf tournament won by Phil Mickelson and most of the Super Bowl (Ravens vs. 49ers), both quite entertaining.  But we didn’t get to see the end of the Super Bowl (and didn’t care) because Graham was born about 8:30 PM and we got to see him about 9:00 PM.  It was a blessing to see and hold him within an hour of his birth, and to celebrate with his mother and dad.  There were two particularly special moments I remember most.  The first followed a text that Tyler’s mom received not too far from the delivery that led us to hold hands and pray for Graham’s safe arrival.  The second upon seeing the look of joy, weariness and awe that was all over Tyler’s face when he came out to tell us that Graham had safely arrived!

Graham was dedicated to God at his church in September last year, an event that we participated in with family and the congregation.  That dedication was followed by a celebration luncheon prepared by his mother and father for quite a few family members and friends.  I prayed at his luncheon that we, family and friends, would all seek to be a blessing to Graham as he grows.  This little one is a part of two families that will have a positive influence on him – his family and God’s family. 

This long weekend with has given us the chance to see Graham in his home environment.  This photo captures his happiness, and gives clues as to some of the many things make him happy.  He enjoys feeding himself with the many types of finger foods – strawberries, cheese, turkey, Cherrios, watermelon and other tiny delights his mother and dad feed him now.  Most of the time, Graham actually eats his food rather than throwing it overboard to his dog, Murphy.  He also enjoys holding, throwing, pushing, placing and doing various things with balls of the size shown here.   

Our celebration of Graham’s birthday included all the typical fun and food s, presents and cake which were enjoyed by all (a big shout out to mother and dad for putting on a great meal and birthday cake).  Although I enjoyed all the foods and family the best part for me was holding the wiggly child and saying a prayer of thanks to God for Graham Kelly’s first year.