BOZEMAN, Mont. -- New methods for restoring river and stream banks are attracting national attention for a Livingston, Montana, environmental company. Trout Headwaters, Inc.'s (THI) novel "soft" restoration technology has generated a partnership between the company, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Waterways Experiment Station Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Vicksburg, Miss.

The TechLink center at Montana State University linked THI and researchers from the USACE Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory for a joint two-year project to create a software program to support predictable, environmentally friendly, stream bank stabilization and restoration decision-making. The Army Corps is the chief regulatory agency for river restoration activities nationwide. Shortly after the project got underway, THI received $120,000 in funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to support the project.

THI's innovative technology offers both reliability and structural integrity, combining computer modeling with the use of natural materials such as vegetation in place of often environmentally inappropriate hard armor such as rock and concrete.

"The Foundation actively supports enterprising and innovative approaches to solving conservation problems and helping fish and wildlife," said John Berry, Executive Director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. "We are proud to support this partnership that we hope will create win-win solutions for river restoration." The grant to THI recognizes the opportunity for systemic change in our nation's approach to river restoration. 

"For nearly a century, governments, engineers, contractors, developers, landscapers, architects, and others have used traditional approaches to stream bank stabilization," said THI president Mike Sprague. "Often the result is significant change in stream channels and flow that may have unforeseen and undesirable effects."

Lack of historic predictability for soft armor techniques is the main reason why private industry and governments have been hesitant to adopt these superior strategies for stabilization and restoration, Sprague said. "We're talking about technologies that can be applied on literally hundreds of thousands of miles of waterways here in the United States, and can have even greater application worldwide." THI's approach is strikingly different from traditional hard armor methods. "By using natural materials and vegetation to stabilize stream banks, water energy can be dampened rather than deflected, providing a solution that is environmentally sound, dramatically less expensive, and aesthetically more pleasing. Traditional materials, such as concrete and rock, may become less stable over time, while suitable vegetation, properly installed, becomes increasingly more stable and effective."

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation was created by Congress in 1984 to support the conservation of native fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats. Through its support of THI's demonstration project near the Army Corps' Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory in Vicksburg, the foundation is helping to buoy widespread acceptance of sustainable practices.

TechLink is located at Montana State University in Bozeman and funded by the Department of Defense and NASA to link companies in Montana and the surrounding region with federal laboratories for technology licensing, joint research and development, and commercialization of new technology. Its purpose is to contribute to the success of both technology-based companies and key resource-based industries in the state and region.

CONTACTS:
Mike Sprague
Trout Headwaters
(406) 333-4715
mike@troutheadwaters.com

Will Swearingen
MSU TechLink
(406) 994-7704
wds@montana.edu

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