MSRA Webinar Series - The Balancing Act of Urban Stream Restoration feat. Josh Burch
MSRA is excited to continue our series of webinars featuring leading industry researchers and partners, as we strive to offer opportunities for discussion and promote advancement of the stream restoration science. Visit our website and social media channels for upcoming webinars.
Continuing Education Credits will be offered for the MSRA Webinar Series!
We hope you will join us:
When: Tuesday, March 31st, 2026
Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Where: GoToWebinar
Following your registration, and prior to the event, you will receive a webinar link from GoToWebinar on the morning of the webinar which will give you access to the webinar.
Will you be attending?
Register Today! Registration will Close at 3pm the Day Before the Webinar.
EVENT DETAILS:
Cost: Free for members, $10 for non-members
Presentation Abstract: The Oxon Run Stream and Master Park Plan project aims to restore a degraded urban stream and develop a vision plan for the park that the stream runs through. Over the last four years, the D.C. Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE), the design team, and project partners have explored and analyzed how stream restoration alternatives could transform both the stream and the park it meanders through to meet project goals and community interests. Transforming the stream and the park comes with risks, resistance, and opportunities. The restoration project will entail three miles of urban stream with 1.5 miles of stream that is presently in a concrete trapezoidal channel and another 1.5 miles in a natural but degraded state with sewer lines exposed in several areas.
Dozens of residential buildings lie within the 100-year floodplain just outside of the park’s boundaries. The restoration work aims to reduce flood risk, protect infrastructure, restore natural hydrology, prevent erosion, and enhance wildlife habitat. Working with partners and community members, DOEE aims to create a stable naturalized stream channel, minimize impacts to tree canopy, reduce risk to structures within the 100-year floodplain, and create a plan that guides park uses and development for generations to come. This presentation will explore how the project team navigates its way forward to finding workable solutions from competing interests ranging from ideas on park space uses, public safety, sewer infrastructure conditions and locations, 100-year floodplain issues, roadway crossing, trails, trees, wetlands, fish passage, and more.
Presenter Abstracts: Josh Burch, Environmental Protection Specialist, Restoration Branch - Watershed Protection Division, manages stream restoration projects for the District DOEE. Josh has held this position since 2009, and has managed the construction of over 15,000 feet of urban stream and has over 40,000 feet of projects on the path toward construction. When not at DOEE, Josh is usually taking his children to sporting practices or games, biking, fishing, gardening, or rambling on to anyone who will listen about why D.C. should be a state.
