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.