Fabric-Encapsulated Soil Lift (FESL) Construction

Baker Lake Restoration

Fallon County – Baker, MT
WRG is contracted to Fallon County, Montana for revegetation work at Baker Lake, an EPA-mandated restoration and wetland mitigation site. Our contract includes woody shrub plantings, herbaceous wetland plantings, installation of weed suppression and browse control materials, broadcast and drill seeding, construction of a suspended grid system as a goose deterrent for wetland plantings, and shoreline treatment applications.

The shoreline treatments include bioengineered soil lift construction, willow collection and installation into soil lifts, substrate treatment applications, and geotextile fabric installation. While these were built to be functional, there was also a high esthetic component given the public visibility and location within the town. We successfully located and managed a local construction subcontractor to provide heavy machinery support for these activities. The region is absent of native willow stands – we scouted hundreds of miles, located willow collection sites, secured permissions, and established a collection proposal.

Milltown Dam Restoration

Montana Dept. of Justice, Natural Resource Damage Program – ​Milltown, MT
In addition to multiple large-scale and diverse revegetation phases throughout many years of construction, WRG built soil lifts for the newly constructed 3 miles of Clark Fork River channel over a three year period.

Boulder Creek Restoration

Montana Dept. of Justice, Natural Resource Damage Program / Watershed Restoration Coalition Maxville, MT
Constructed soil lifts, collected and installed willows, planted containerized shrubs, installed browse control materials

Rock Creek Channel Stabilization

Private landowner – Rock Creek, MT
Due to the landowner's access bridge being threatened, WRG constructed soil lifts with brush layers, collected willows and brush layer material, and planted seedlings.

Kelly Island Area Bank Stabilization

Private landowner – Missoula, MT
Due to the landowner's property and house being threatened, WRG constructed soil lifts with willows and brush layers.

Clark Fork River Restoration

Montana Dept. of Justice, Natural Resource Damage Program – Upper Clark Fork River
Collected over 150,000 live willow cuttings for soil lift construction