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Home My WebLink About20090577 Ver 1_WRC Comments_200911030 North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission 0 Gordon Myers, Executive Director November 3, 2009 Ms. Loretta Beckwith U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch 151 Patton Avenue, Room 208 Asheville, North Carolina 28801-5006 Ms. Cyndi Karoly NCDENR, Division of Water Quality, 401 Unit 1628 Mail Service Center Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1628 SUBJECT: After-the-Fact Nationwide 29 Permit Application for Highland Forest Partners, LLC. Highland Forest Development, Haywood County DWQ NO. 09-0577 Dear Ms. Beckwith and Ms. Karoly: Highland Forest Partners, LLC requested comments from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (Commission) for a 404 Permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a 401 Water Quality Certification from NCDENR, Division of Water Quality. These authorizations would cover already completed fills in 0.158 acre of wetlands and 149 feet of streams in the Browning Branch and Medford Branch watersheds for the Highland Forest residential development. Commission staff visited the project site several times, attended the July 19, 2009 project meeting, and reviewed the additional project information in the September 22, 2009 letter from Wetland and Natural Resource Consultants. Comments from Commission staff are provided under provisions of the Clean Water Act of 1977 (33 U.S.C. 466 et seq.) and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (48 Stat. 401, as amended; 16 U.S.C. 661- 667d). Browning Branch and Medford Branch support wild brook trout populations. Brook trout have been found in Medford Branch and the tributary to Medford Branch in the scour pool below culvert site # 1. Mailing Address: Division of Inland Fisheries • 1721 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1721 Telephone: (919) 707-0220 • Fax: (919) 707-0028 Highland Forest Partners, LLC Page 2 November 3, 2009 Haywood This project may have harmed trout if the construction caused sedimentation during the spawning season. Also, it may harm brook trout populations if it impedes fish movements. The culverts at site #'s 1, 16, and 17 likely constitute either blocks or impediments to upstream passage by brook trout because of perched outlets. Similar conditions at road crossings were either impassable or provided limited passage to adult trout in the George Washington National Forest in Virginia (Coffman et al. 2005). Although trout may not now be in the stream above site # 1, it is important that the barriers or impediments created by site #'s 16 and 17 be rectified since the site # 1 culvert will eventually need to be replaced, possibly with a bridge, once it either fails or becomes a safety hazard. According to the additional project information, culvert #'s 1 and 16 are not proposed for replacement with bridges as discussed at the project meeting. No reason was given for not replacing culvert crossing # 16. It is purportedly impracticable at site # 1 because of a buried power line in the road fill. However, as already noted, this culvert will need to be replaced eventually. If the culverts at site #'s 16 and 17 remain as placed, then it is important that the potential for trout passing the crossings be improved. Small brook trout can jump waterfalls of about 1.5-2 feet provided there is adequate pool depth (approx. 1.5 feet) at the waterfall base, though the probability of successful passage is low (-5%)(Kondratieff and Myrick 2006). With the proposed design there should be about a 20% probability of successful passage of each step assuming each step is a waterfall. However, in addition to fish leaping ability, flow refugia and adequate water depth also affect fish passage once they are inside culverts. Therefore, the step-pool structures should back some water into the culverts as described in the September 22, 2009 letter, but not shown in the attached plans. Also, all base stream flow needs to be permanently routed through a single barrel of each of the triple-barrel culverts so that water depth is maximized. If the step-pools are authorized, then the Commission recommends that the following permit conditions be attached and used to help conserve brook trout populations: 1. All instream work and bank disturbance must be avoided during the October 15-April 15 trout spawning moratorium. The step-pool structures must be constructed consistent with the plans. Also, they must back water into the culverts and all base stream flow must be permanently routed through a single barrel of each of the triple-barrel culverts. Removal of riparian vegetation and ground disturbance must be avoided as much as possible. Disturbed areas should be mulched and planted with native vegetation following construction. Heavy fiber matting must be applied and secured wherever soil or loose material may be exposed on the stream banks. 4. A step-pool structure similar to those at site #'s 16 and 17 must be constructed downstream of culvert site #I to improve fish passage and address the scour pool erosion. 5. As-built information must be provided for all step-pool structures. As noted above, we recommend that the additional stream impacts associated with leaving the culverts as- placed (if permitted) be partly mitigated by constructing a comparable step-pool structure in the scour pool below culvert #1. This pool holds trout, but it has down-cut so that the right bank is sloughing and contributing sediment to the stream. Unless it is stabilized it should continue to erode in this manner, likely at an accelerated rate due to the new and future development in the watershed. Also, this pool is Highland Forest Partners, LLC Page 3 November 3, 2009 Haywood filled with fine sediments and not very productive invertebrate habitat during low flow periods. Construction of a step-pool structure here would help address these problems as well as improve the potential for fish passage beyond culvert # 1. Based on the site visit by U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Commission personnel, it appears that there is suitable, albeit limited, habitat for northern flying squirrels (US and NC endangered) on the property. We appreciate the opportunity to investigate this and offer additional assistance to help identify ways to avoid any harm to this species that the project might cause. Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on this project. Please contact me at (828) 452- 2546 extension 24 if there are any questions about these comments. Sincerely, -;,//X . Dave McHenry Mountain Region Coordinator Habitat Conservation Program cc: Ms. Susan Wilson, NCDENR, Division of Water Quality Mr. Brian Tompkins, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mc. Chris Kelly, NC Wildlife Resources Commission Citations Coffman, J.S. 2005. As cited in Coffman, S., M. Minter, J. Zug, D. Nuckols, and C. Roghair. 2005. Fish passage status of road-stream crossings on selected National Forests in the Southern Region, 2005. United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Southern Research Station , Center for Aquatic Technology Transfer, Blacksburg, VA. Kondrtieff, M.C. and C.A. Myrick. 2006. How high can brook trout jump? A laboratory evaluation of brook trout jumping performance. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 135: 361-370.