Apalachicola River Slough Restoration

The mouth of this spring had become silted in over time and access into the spring was occluded during lower flow conditions. Deepening of the mouth of the spring was proposed in order to provide access to a cool water refuge by Gulf striped bass and other fish during the warm weather months. An approximately 55-foot wide by 200-foot long channel was excavated by barge-mounted dragline at the mouth of the spring, extending from the natural river channel to the mouth and into the mouth of the creek as far as the crane could reach without destroying adjacent trees (approximately 50 feet).

The channel was excavated to a depth of 5 feet below the existing bottom, which would provide a depth of approximately 7 feet during low flow conditions. Approximately 1400 cubic yards of excavated material was deposited in the river on the downstream side of the proposed channel, so the material would not wash back into the excavated hole, and with the intent that subsequent flood flows would recapture the material into the river bed load. Follow-on hydrographic surveys were to be completed to assure that the deposited material was adequately recaptured by the high water flows.