Shoal Creek Stream Restoration Improvements

   Newton County, Missouri

We are happy to announce the completion of Phase 1 of Shoal Creek Stream Restoration Improvements Newton County, Missouri, just north of Neosho. This project reduces loss of valuable farmland and the discharge of excessive sediment and nutrients into Shoal Creek during flood events. Wagner & Associates provided engineering and design services for the project, which is a strategic partnership of The Nature Conservancy, the Land Learning Center, and RiverLaw.org, along with other public and private partners. BDOG, LLC is providing the construction services. 

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The project is located on two reaches of Shoal Creek, each about 500 feet in length. Phase 1 consists of structural repairs to the eroded banks and was completed in December 2024. Phase 2 will consist of a 50-foot-wide riparian corridor planting along the bank. As the plantings take hold, and mature, the ecological restoration and benefits to the stream will increase. 

One of the reaches has an application of toe stone protection, vegetated revetment, live staking of native trees, benway weirs, and rock keys/anchors. The other reach primarily has a softer structural application utilizing on-site trees and root wads to construct tree weirs that deflect flow away from the eroded bank and create bank-restoring sediment deposits and fish habitat between the weirs. Phase 2 consists of planting of native trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses and is anticipated to occur in 2025.

The photos below show the eroded bank prior to construction and the competed Phase 1 structural improvements at the two reaches. For more information on stream-saving work being done on Shoal Creek, visit shoulcrekwatershed.org or click below.