OakCreekRestoration

Cave Springs Campground is located 15 miles south of Flagstaff in the Coconino Nation Forest Adjacent to Oak Creek and Highway 89. The area of interest is used seasonally during the spring and summer months. The campground provides camp sites, hiking trails and other types of recreation.

The project site is bordered to the North by a low water crossing. The crossing is the campground entrance and exit. The access road runs along the western edge of the project area and High 89 borders the project site to the east. The stabilization of an eroding concrete bank on Oak Creek is of main concern. The stream divides into two channels; the right channel is responsible for the eroding of the concrete bank and the left channel borders a Narrow-headed garter snake habitat. The division of the stream has created an island of sediment, which supports mature riparian trees.

In 1996 the U.S Forest Service and the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Services (NRCS) designed and built a grouted rock bank. The rock bank interior included structural rebar and polyethylene tubing for internal drainage. The design overtime has failed in the following ways:

Severe undercutting of the grout rock bank leaving an overhanging cantilevered structure that is prone to collapsing
Loss of integrity of whole sections of grouted bank, due to interior drainage and loss of supporting soil matrix and vegetative influences
Exposure of elements of the rock grouted bank, especially rebar pieces that present safety hazards

The Cave Springs stream reach has scoured out the channel bed, thus increasing the depth and it has sent a head-cut moving up channel. The stream has scoured deep enough to undercut the cemented rip-rap bank armoring and consequently is in the process of dismantling the bank.

The head-cut results in down cutting migrating up-stream threatening the low water crossing and undermining the campground's access road. The head-cut is producing an accelerated amount of sedimentation in the stream.