Spa Creek Headwaters Retrofit & Stream Restoration Design-Build

Restoring a headwater stream enhances a natural and recreational resource while also helping a Chesapeake Bay community meet its pollution reduction goals.

Spa Creek flows through Annapolis, MD and ultimately into the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River. A treasured natural and recreational resource, the creek provides habitat for many native Bay species. In recent decades, however, development and population growth have put pressure on its headwaters, causing many of them to become eroded sluiceways through which stormwater swiftly carries sediments and pollutants downstream. To address these problems, the Spa Creek Conservancy initiated restoration efforts.

With assistance from Biohabitats, the Conservancy applied for and received grant funding from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bay Trust Fund. The project restored 5,000 linear feet of stream, beginning at a gabion-lined outfall and ending at a stand of Phragmites established on a sediment deposit formed by channel erosion and upland sediment transport. After assessing the site and conducting H&H analyses, Biohabitats crafted a design to establish long-term, stable channel geometry, increase nutrient uptake, and enhance aquatic, wetland, and riparian habitat. The design removed gabions, created step pools to slow flows, and raised the channel bed to reconnect the stream to its floodplain. The floodplain reconnection allows stormwater to rehydrate non-tidal wetlands. The restoration also removed two acres of Phragmites and restored emergent tidal wetlands.

Biohabitats and its subcontractors executed all elements of the project, including topographic survey, resource mapping, public engagement, permitting services, construction, and planting. Biohabitats’ design-build capability facilitated the Conservancy’s ability to implement a project of this scale.