The Intergovernmental Stormwater Committee will help pay for a Freedom Township stream restoration proposed by an environmental nonprofit — a contribution that will provide an excellent return on investment, according to ISC officials.

The committee will cover $131,000 of the $226,000 cost of the proposed work on the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River, a project that will reduce sediment runoff by 107,000 pounds per year, officials estimate.

That means the ISC would pay only about $1.22 per pound for the sediment reduction — compared to the $3 or $4 per pound it paid for its largest project so far, removal of silt from the pond at Lakemont Park.

“Anything that comes in under that (the Lakemont rate) we find attractive,” said engineer Tom Levine, a committee member.

“Extremely attractive,” said engineer Brian Shura of Stiffler McGraw, who designed the Lakemont project.

The nine-municipality council of governments is currently 600,000 pounds per year short of its seven-year Department of Environmental Protection “permit” requirement to reduce sediment runoff in the urbanized area around Altoona by 1.4 million pounds annually.

North Carolina-based Trust for Tomorrow is proposing to do the Freedom Township project on 2,300 feet of the Frankstown Branch, near the Freedom Township Water & Sewer Authority plant, according to information provided by Pennsylvania Furnace-based Christine Woodard, director of Trust for Tomorrow’s Northeast Restoration Program.

Committee solicitor Patrick Fanelli will draw up an agreement by which the committee can legally contribute to the work.

It may involve setting aside the money so that Trust for Tomorrow can draw down funds when it submits contractor invoices.

That is a common way for the Trust to operate, Woodard said.

Committee members at first hesitated to commit the funds, in case the project isn’t completed.

But that would have scotched the project, because Trust for Tomorrow doesn’t have the money to upfront for post-project reimbursement, said ISC stormwater coordinator Chelsey Weyant.

In the project area, the river “is exhibiting active erosion of its banks,” according to a synopsis of the work.

In one area, there are erratic flow patterns and multiple channels, according to the synopsis.

Workers will return the stream to a “single-thread” channel matching the river in a more stable location, the synopsis states. They’ll place channel blocks in the “superfluous” channels and install mudsills, log vanes and deflectors based on Natural Channel Design protocols in the one channel that will remain, according to the synopsis.

They’ll plant native “forested riparian buffer” where the current buffer is inadequate, according to the synopsis.

The work will result in “better channel hydraulics, less stress on the stream banks and more efficient sediment transport,” the synopsis states.

The Trust has obtained the necessary permits.

It plans to obtain a waiver for some additional work on 1,200 feet of McDonald Run, a nearby tributary.

Because the river is stocked with trout and supports wild trout, the job needs to take place between June 15 and Oct. 1, based on Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission regulations.

The Trust hopes to do the work this year.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designed the project and will monitor the area for five years after construction.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.