Scull Creek runs north through much of Fayetteville from near the University of Arkansas’ campus until it’s confluence with Mud Creek west of the Northwest Arkansas Mall.  The drainage area at the proposed restoration site is 4.5 mi². The site is in the Mud Creek-Clear Creek Basin which encompasses nearly all the city of Fayetteville. These goals will be achieved by rehabilitating an eroding streambank, installing a rock vane grade control structure to alleviate pressure from the bank and maintain water surface elevation, and re-shaping the channel to create a stable profile.

The project is proposed to restore an approximately 150-ft long eroding streambank using Natural Channel Design principles as the foundation for the design.  All elements of this process will utilize natural materials such as boulders, trees, brush, and soil and are designed to decrease future streambank erosion while providing the physical infrastructure to promote improved terrestrial and aquatic habitat.  To restore this section of Scull Creek, the toe of the streambank will need to be stabilized.  Stacked rock revetment will be installed on the bank to significantly eliminate erosion at the toe of the bank and to redirect storm flows away from the bank and more centered within the center of the channel.

A bankfull bench will be constructed on top of the stacked rock wall using a woven coconut coir fiber mattress containing encapsulated fill soil.  The mattress will provide a growing medium for a multitude of native riparian grasses, shrubs, trees, and wildflowers.  It will also provide relief for floodwaters to spread during storm events and resulting in lower the shear stresses imparted upon the bank.  The vegetation will provide surface roughness that will also counteract shear stresses.  Rock and bench elevations relative to the channel thalweg were established based analysis of cross-section and profile data as observed at the project site and similar stream types within the watershed.  A rock vane will be installed at the upstream end of the project area.  This structure will divert the water off of the restored streambank during storm flows and is intended to prevent bank-side flanking of the rock revetment.