John Matthews Creek Ravine Management Strategy and Creek Restoration

Historically, the deep, steeply sided V-shaped John Matthews Creek ravine has experienced slope instabilities due to creek erosion. The City engaged Associated Engineering to develop a management strategy to prevent future problems by controlling flows entering the ravine, and to mitigate a known erosion site identified in a previous study.

During the course of the assignment, and after a series of small storms, a rapidly advancing headcut formed a deeply incised trough approximately 100 m long and up to 10 m deep at the upstream end. The destabilization resulted in deposition of large amounts of sediment in the lowland fish bearing reaches and created long-term risks of block slope failures due to the deep cut.