20191320 Ver 1_WRC Comments_20191017

9 North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission 0
Gordon Myers, Executive Director
October 17, 2019
Mr. David Brown
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch
151 Patton Avenue, Room 208
Asheville, North Carolina 28801-5006
SUBJECT: Village Walk Homeowners
UT to Mill Creek, Macon County
Dear Mr. Brown:
Biologists with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) reviewed an
application to stabilize 300 ft of an unnamed tributary (UT) to Mill Creek in Macon County. Our
comments on this application are offered for your consideration under provisions of the Clean
Water Act of 1977 (33 U.S.C. 466 et. seq.) and Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (48 Stat. 401,
as amended; 16 U.S.C. 661-667d).
Wild trout should not be impacted by this project and a trout moratorium is not needed for this
project. The application proposes to stabilize the north streambank with dry stacked boulders.
We recommend the use of bioengineering or natural channel design methods instead of a boulder
wall to reduce risk of failure and to benefit aquatic and terrestrial wildlife.
We offer the following recommendations for the project to minimize impacts to fish and wildlife
resources:
1. Perform the work in the dry or at least divert flows around the work area with coffer dams.
2. Be vigilant with sediment and erosion control during site staging, construction, and cleanup.
Disturbed areas should be seeded, mulched and/or matted as soon as possible, preferably at
the end of each work day.
3. Any matting used on site should be free of nylon mesh; nylon mesh netting frequently
entangles wildlife and is slow to degrade, resulting in a hazard that may last for years.
4. The application notes that existing trees will be retained and sod placed on disturbed areas.
We recommend the use of native herbaceous and woody vegetation to provide additional
bank stability and benefit wildlife.
Mailing Address: Habitat Conservation • 1721 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1721
Telephone: [phone] • Fax: [phone]

Village Walk Homeowners Page 2 October 17, 2019
UT Mill Cr, Macon County
Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on this project. Please contact me at
[phone] if you have any questions about these comments.
Sincerely,
Andrea Leslie
Mountain Region Coordinator, Habitat Conservation Program
ec: Matt Mason, Tate Landscaping
Andrew Moore and Zan Price, NC Division of Water Resources