Stream and Streambank Restoration

Altamont has assisted the Polk County Soil & Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) with submittal of two grants that resulted in the PCSWCD receiving in excess of $2.7 million in funding from the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund (CWMTF). Donated permanent conservation easements and in-kind service provide the project a total value of approximately $3.5 million.

The project is focused on stabilizing failing streambanks, enhancing riparian vegetation and habitat, and placing into conservation a minimum 50-foot-wide riparian buffer along two miles of the North Pacolet River in Polk County (referred to as Reach 3).  The project is part of a Watershed Plan that will restore and place into conservation the riparian area along the entire main stem of the river within North Carolina, a distance of 18 river miles.  The assessment of Reach 3 included conducting a Rosgen-style Level III Assessment, riparian and exotic/invasive plant species documentation, hydrologic assessment that included field observation of bankfull indicators, North Carolina Regional Curve Data, watershed area and land cover, sediment transport analysis, US Army Corps of Engineers USACE Hydrologic Engineering Center, River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) modeling, and benthic macroinvertebrate assessment.

The assessment was used to develop a design that was acceptable to the property owners, stabilized rapidly migrating incised streambanks, was beneficial to water quality, restored and enhanced the riparian corridor, and resulted in permanent conservation of the stream buffer.  The design was incorporated into a Pre-Construction Notification (PCN) that was submitted to the USACE, the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Division of Water Quality, Land Quality Section, and was copied to the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and NC Wildlife Resource Commission (NCWRC).  The PCN resulted in the project receiving a Nationwide USACE 404 Permit for stream restoration and the accompanying Division of Water Quality 401 Water Quality Certification in less than three weeks from submittal.  Concurrence was also received from USFW and NCWRC.  Hydrologic data was also provided to Federal Emergency Management Agency and the NC Floodplain Mapping Program for a No Impact Determination for the project.  Construction of the project began in November 2010 and is one of the largest stream restoration grant projects ever awarded by the CWMTF.