Problem Statement

The current Virginia National Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) Conservation Practice Standard (CPS) 578 is a standard guide to the design of cattle crossings through streams. These standards minimize the impacts of cattle stream crossings on downstream waters. The Virginia NRCS has used these standards and state regulations to develop a design note for cattle crossings as a recommendation for building such a crossing for streams under 6 ft/s; however no design note recommendation has been established for streams greater than 6 ft/s. The purpose of this design project is to use the current standard and recommendations while using a new technology for a cattle crossing at the Catawba Creek Sustainability Center. The stream has a low-bank velocity around 4.2 ft/s, so current NRCS recommendations will be used, but the design process will include an exploration of alternative design methods that may be useful to the NRCS in determining the best option for streams over 6 ft/s. There is currently a ford crossing at the Catawba Sustainability Center, which is in an unstable part of the stream, as it is in a stream bend and has steep exit and entrance approaches. Using a new, more stable reach of the stream, the goal of the project will to be to develop two stream crossing designs; one using the standard NRCS recommendations for streams below 6ft/s, and one following NRCS standards, but using a high-stability design that can serve as a more sustainable option and if implemented, can serve as a study area for the NRCS for high-stability crossings used for high-velocity streams.