cbec eco engineering, a Verdantas Company

💧🌎 🐟 cbec is committed to building a better future by developing innovative, multi-benefit solutions in water resources engineering that improve the health of the natural environment, while also meeting the needs of humanity. Watch the full version on our YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/gzRqstBT

All smiles on the upper reaches of the Tuolumne River as Senior Ecohydrologist Nick Southall assisted park staff in the deployment of stream gages and timelapse cameras. This type of data acquisition is vital to many of our projects. Gathered data will be used to further refine our understanding of winter hydrology and inform models that will assess potential flow and sediment transport restoration concepts in this region of the Yosemite National Park. #cbecYosemite Yosemite Conservancy American Rivers Verdantas

#cbecYosemite

Watch this short video from the Bureau of Reclamation to learn more about our latest collaboration on the Lower American River at River Bend. This site is pivotal as the first enhanced habitat area that returning salmon encounter on the river. Earlier this summer, crews implemented cbec’s designs to restore the site for improved salmonid spawning and rearing conditions. #cbecSHEP SacWaterForum

Local youth environmental organization Sacramento Splash invited Ecoengineer Sam Diaz to write a guest article about our years-long partnership. Read more about about how we align our shared goal of educating the community about the natural world. See Sam in action at their summer Youth Environmental Leadership Camp here: https://lnkd.in/gKdgFrxN

cbec, a Verdantas company, is in the midst of post-construction water quality monitoring on this Stockton-based San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency project. The completion of the Smith Canal floodgate aims to prevent high flood elevations from propagating in the canal, which would pose a flood risk to the surrounding 8,500 properties. We assisted in peer review of previous hydrodynamic and water quality modeling, prepared a water quality monitoring plan for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and conducted water quality monitoring since 2019. cbec team members are experts at studying and managing flood risk where human and natural systems intersect. #cbecSmithCanal

Welcome to the team, Zachary Phillips, PhD! We are happy to announce that Zach has joined cbec, a Verdantas company, as an Ecohydrologist I. See his bio for more info. #cbecTeam

Welcome to the team, Jade Hinson, MS, EIT! We are happy to announce that Jade has joined cbec, a Verdantas company, as an Ecohydrologist I. See her bio for more info. #cbecTeam

Last week ecoengineer Sam Diaz returned to the Van Norden Meadow site to assist with adaptive management implementation. Phase 1 of the project was completed in 2022, and the upstream rehabilitation was so effective in distributing previously channelized flows to the meadow that erosion has occurred along new flow paths. In one location where flows return from the meadow down a relatively steep slope to the relic channel, soil eroded, forming a headcut--a deep incision that migrates upstream as erosion progresses. Repairing this headcut required a robust fill and surface treatment solution to resist fast flows during spring runoff. Earthen fill was placed with a rock base layer to stabilize the fill. Transplanted sod was laid on top of the earthen fill in the steepest portion of the repair. Larger rocks was added at the downstream end to hold the soil and sod in place and dissipate energy as flows spill into the relic channel. Upstream of the fill, a brush mattress made of willows and willow bundles were installed to help slow flows prior to the steeper drop into the channel. These willow features are pervious to flows, but create a flow impediment to reduce flow velocity and reduce erosive stress on the soil beneath them. The willows will hopefully establish to create a dense bank that will stabilize the soil and continue to slow flows in the long term. #cbecVanNorden South Yuba River Citizens League, Verdantas

A recent visit to the Lower Yuba River Lower Long Bar Restoration Project site revealed extensive vegetation recruitment two years after construction in 2022. This roughly 62-acre gravel mine property had a history of massive aggradation of hydraulic mining sediment during the late 1800s and early 1900s, followed by rapid channel incision. This caused the floodplain to be disconnected from the river at lower flows, becoming largely inaccessible to rearing juvenile salmonids. cbec services consisted of site surveys and analysis, concept through construction planset design development, as well as construction observation and post-project monitoring. Our designs included the removal of more than 350,000 cubic yards of gravel to lower the floodplain, and the addition of a side channel to increase seasonal and perennial salmonid rearing habitat. This regular inundation also stimulated riparian vegetation recruitment, which is flourishing in this video. Thank you to our project proponents: South Yuba River Citizens League, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) #cbecLongBar Verdantas 🤳 Sam Diaz