Experimental research for riverbank restoration by using soil bioengineering

Soil bioengineering is a means to assess, design, construct and maintain living vegetation systems, to repair damage caused by erosion and land failures and to protect and enhance functioning systems. Although China considers being the first country by using soil bioengineering for river management, knowledge and research on this area is very scantiness. We here report an experimental site in Huaijiu River, Beijing. It proves that Salix alba var.Tristis is good material to obtain near-natural riverbank restoration. Soil bioengineering measure of wattle fence is effective. After periods time of project implementation, significant effectiveness was obtained on slope stability, habitat improvement, and ecological restoration of river banks. This can provide guidelines for selecting materials and methods to control riverbank erosion. It was concluded that the approach could be widely applied in ecological riverbank restoration in China.