Design Site Four Dogwood Park

The Dogwood Park location was selected for similar reasons that the West Bridge Site was selected. The park on river right joins the two sites such that park improvements could be leveraged for either or both sites. Dogwood Park currently features a boat ramp that is heavily used by fishing traffic which floats the Upper Elk and takes out at the existing river left take-out. Parking and restroom facilities are currently available at this site.

The Dogwood Park site is also the location of the Coal Creek confluence with the Elk River. This confluence deposits a large amount of sediment and contributes significant amount of flow during high flow events. Park improvements are also recommended for the Dogwood Park take-out area as well.

Random berm type bolder clusters would also add character in the form of eddies and small waves through this reach. The river wide drop structure would be designed to create a park-and-play wave feature with eddy access on both sides. The river left eddy access would be extended from its current configuration in order to provide more staging space for fishermen who are accessing, or egressing, from the river at this location. Improvements to the banks include an improved boat ramp, park and picnic areas, trail access, and a swimming area. A swimming area on river right would also be augmented and improved as a part of the park improvements on this side. Parking would be added on river right as well. It is expected that all of the swimming improvements would only be appropriate for low water swimming and river access with appropriate supervision and lifejackets.