Live Staking at Medway Creek

The Live Staking project was led by a team of student volunteers with campus and community partners. This project planted approximately 200 native shrubs and trees along Medway Creek at Western University in an area that was previously turf grass lawn right up to the creek’s banks. Live staking is a form of bio engineering that stabilizes river/creek banks, provides aquatic and riparian habitat, prevents pollutants from entering the watercourse, cools the waterway (through shading), and helps prevent flooding. It involves hammering "live stakes" (i.e. dormant tree branches) into the shoreline where they will then set roots.