Bank Restoration at Wetland

This section of the Bay's Wetland Mitigation Bank is part of a 1,420 acre property. Canals drain the interconnected wetlands to create land for agriculture. Over time, erosion led to several breaches within the banks that caused water quality concerns from the excess sediment.

Flexamat® was chosen as slope and shoreline stabilization along the wetland canals for several reasons-

Cattle ranching is the primary agricultural activity in this region. The concrete erosion mat has blocks with a low profile of 2.25", making Flexamat® safe for hoofed animals, including horses and cattle.

The project was on the remote area of a large property, not near roads. The material needed to be efficiently transported to the site. Flexamat® is packaged in rolls. One truckload of Flexamat® covers the same area that would require 32 truckloads of rock rip rap at an 18" depth.

This region has periodic wet and dry seasons. The project needed to be completed during the dry season. The Flexamat® rolls are quickly installed. The rolls were pre-cut into their custom lengths. This enable the contractor to install 18,000 SF on average each day.

The vegetated concrete erosion mat allows for native vegetation growth, helping to improve the water quality of the Bay.

Flexamat® can be manufactured with many different underlayment options to adapt to various site conditions. Due to the tidal fluctuations and sandy soil conditions, a 10 ounce non-woven fabric was chosen and rolled up with the tied concrete block mat during the manufacturing process. The contractor installed the materials in one step.