Repairian: Repairing a Critical Riparian Corridor

Repairing a critical riparian corridor

Project Statement Repairian deals with the social and environmental challenges of a town adjacent to an important river. The proposition is a comprehensive recreation and restoration master plan. Repairian uses tools like trails, wetlands and dry retention basins in order to protect the residents from wild fires and flood events.

In 2015 a wild fire unfortunately occurred in the town and destroyed many homes and wilderness alike. One silver lining was the destruction of the Salt Cedar and invasive species that overtook the riparian habitat along the River. Repairian proposes restoration in order to provide habitat for local endangered species like the Yellow Billed Cuckoo and Southwestern Willow Flycatcher.

In order to boost commerce, Repairian expands the existing campground and provides a complete street to connect the campgrounds to the new trailhead adjacent to the airport. At the trailhead visitors can prepare for hikes, learn about the Town or climb atop the fire prevention watch tower.

Master Plan

N

Repairian Recreation & Trails Master Plan

Raised Planters

Trailhead: Lots is going on here. It’s adjacent to Airport, Golf course, Campgrounds, Lake, Rail Road, River. This space is activated by a Watch Tower and Helps to mitigate flood Wash

events

YP.) treet (T S e t e l Comp

Railroad

Underpass

Visitor Center

Entry Node Bios wa

le

Watch Tower

Airport

Paved Trail Loop Existing

Detention Zone Dam Boulders Restoration

N

Gila River

Bios wal e

Bird’s eye vies of Trailhead. This shows better Airport

it’s relationship to the railroad and the airport and begins to show the boulder dams.

Visitor Center

Dam Boulders

Bios wa

le

Paved Trail Loop

Water Detention Zone

Wash Underpass

Railroad

Entry Node

Paved Trail Loop

Constructed Wetlands: These are designed to treat storm water and effluent water before it reaches the River. It also provides a place for

Islands Elevated Crossing

interaction with wildlife and aids in flood

Cottonwood

mitigation

N

Parking

Effluent Water Flow

Raised Wooden Path

Terraces

Gila River

Perspective of Constructed Wetlands: Shows the proposed elevated walk

Complete Street Desert Vegetation

This street serves as the main access from the improved campgrounds and lake to the new trailhead area. This street needs to be an adventure in and of itself. Therefore this street accommodates on-street parking and bike lanes nestled between loads of vegetation.

Sidewalk

Bike Lane

Vegetation

Diagonal Parking

Travel Lane

Vegetated Median

Travel Lane

Diagonal Parking

Vegetation

Bike Lane

Sidewalk

Flush Curb

Fire Break Trail The trail is minimum 25’ and vegetated with desert adapted succulents and cacti. These plants retain water inside them and will not add fuel to a fire.

The path is typical unpaved with areas of pavement near higher intensity land uses. Trees adjacent to this area are to be maintained by removing leaves and branches under 6ft above ground.

Trimmed to 6’ above ground

Succulents, Cacti and Boulders.

Unpaved (TYP)

Bike Lane

Pedestrian

Paved Trail

Low level lighting

Paved trail is intended to be used around the most activated areas such as the wetlands and the trailhead. This treatment coupled with the additional parking, will serve less than able bodied people very well.

Stabilized Unpaved Surface

Pedestrian

Unpaved Trail

5ft clearance directly adjacent to path to maintain safety. Beyond 5ft, left to minimum maintenance

This is the typical treatment for the existing trails that are being re-purposed. There is a five foot buffer on either side of the trail for safety and maintenance. The trail is no completely untreated, it’s made up of stabilized decomposed granite. These trails are meant for light impact use

Education Trail The trail is a main connection between the Gila River and the local school. When children walk to and from the river they are able to read about the local ecosystem, animals and implement classroom lessons outdoors. The education trail also proposes an outdoor classroom available for school teachers and

Outdoor Classroom

Education Trail Signage

Boulder Seating

Goals 1: Develop an accessible, interconnected system that brings together Kearny with the natural environment around it and the Gila River 2: Preserve and protect natural, physical, cultural and social resources 3: Implement native vegetation to preserve water resources and exhibit native flora and fauna 4: Protect residents from possible dangers like floods and fires 5: Use project as an economic driver 6: Enhance the identity of Kearny

Project Narrative During the process of designing Repairian the team collected loads of data. General data was collected like climate, soils, hydrology, wildlife and biomes. Then much more town specific data was collected. Some of this data includes: average age, sex, income, transportation, education etc. This data was compiled and then mapped out and overlayed on the towns boundaries. Through this process places with lots of overlap became hot spots for the traits plugged into the maps. For example, looking at social status of the town, places were low education and income coupled with high female population became most vulnerable to change and was then identified as a place where remediation would be very beneficial.

There were three town meeting where students and residents collaborated in order to get the best result. The first meeting was a gathering of information, meeting all interested parties and learning about the issues at hand. The second meeting was about gathering information from the residents through mapping exercises, surveys and video interviews. Lastly, the third meeting the student presented the results from the previous meeting and presented preliminary master plan design.

Repairian would be implemented by having the residents decide what parts of it are most important and pertinent.

Then phasing would begin following the process outlined by resident and local government. Grants would be acquired in order to fund projects related to Repairian.