The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About20190397 Ver 1_R-2566B FWS Comments_20210301 Wanucha, Dave From:Lawing, Jason <jason.lawing@kimley-horn.com> Sent:Monday, March 1, 2021 2:32 PM To:Sanderson, Mike; Berry, Michelle G; 'Lori Beckwith (Loretta.A.Beckwith@usace.army.mil)'; McCann, Nora A; Wanucha, Dave; Chambers, Marla J; Patterson, Robert D; Hining, Kevin J; Beaver, G Trent; Staley, Mark K; Cartner, Wesley; Turchy, Michael A; Adima, Nathan N; Hampton, Donald E; Jamison, John; Spacek, Tony; Green, Spencer; Weeks, Andrew; Kretchman, Douglas W; Dilday, Jason L; Headrick, Hannah S; felix.davila@dot.gov; holland_youngman@fws.gov; fmr.ernest.j.hahn Cc:Janet Mizzi; monte.k.matthews@usace.army.mil; Aldridge, Michelle -FS; Chapman, Amy; Pettyjohn, Michael A; Paschal, Keith; Wilkerson, Matt T; Williams, Eric; Anderson, Brook E; Woodard, Jordan A; Walston, Jeffrey D; Lipscomb, Brian S; Robinson, Beverly G Subject:\[External\] RE: R-2566B FWS Comments CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless you verify. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to Report Spam. Everyone, FYI – see comments in email below from USFWS for the 4B meeting on R-2566B. We gave them some extra time to review the plans since they were not at the meeting due to an invite issue. We will work to get these incorporated into the minutes from the meeting, which should be finalized and go out later this week. Thank you to everyone who has provided input. Thanks, Jason Lawing, P.E. Kimley-Horn | 200 South Tryon Street, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28202 Direct: 704 319 5683 | Mobile: 704 763 4358 | www.kimley-horn.com From: Turchy, Michael A <maturchy@ncdot.gov> Sent: Monday, March 1, 2021 10:58 AM To: Lawing, Jason <jason.lawing@kimley-horn.com> Subject: R-2566B FWS Comments Hi Jason, Please find FWS's comments to the 4B meeting below. There are quite a few, but I believe most of them are capture in NCDOT BMP's, just stated in a different way. Thanks, Michael From: Wilson, Lauren B <lauren_wilson@fws.gov> Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2021 2:17 PM To: Turchy, Michael A <maturchy@ncdot.gov> 1 Cc: Stanton, Tyler P <tstanton@ncdot.gov>; Gray, Jared S <jgray@ncdot.gov>; Burroughs, Anne M <amburroughs@ncdot.gov>; Miller, Melissa R <mrmiller2@ncdot.gov>; Dilday, Jason L <jldilday@ncdot.gov>; Hining, Kevin J <kjhining@ncdot.gov>; Youngman, Holland J <holland_youngman@fws.gov> Subject: Re: \[EXTERNAL\] R-2566B Files and Links CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless you verify. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to Report Spam. Hi Michael - et al. Thanks again for the meeting last week and for the acronym help (Michael). I have finished review of the 4B Meeting Minutes and Design Sheets (5/4/2020) for R-2566B project. 1. I reviewed some of the Service file (#10-244) for this project including the 3 and 4A Merger Meeting Minutes and the Section 7 correspondence between DOT and USFWS. 2. I suggest avoidance and minimization measures for reducing impacts to water quality during design or construction. While I reviewed all the material, it wasn’t always clear to me what measures are already planned or were considered so apologies for any duplication. Let me know if construction related comments (vs design) are more appropriate for a different Merger concurrence point. These are standard recommendations that the Asheville Field Office submits on projects such as this. We agree with many of the comments submitted by other agencies regarding the burial of culverts and measures to maintain wildlife passage and natural stream function. a. Forested riparian buffers (a minimum 50 feet wide along intermittent streams and 100 feet wide along perennial streams \[or the full extent of the 100-year floodplain, whichever is greater\]) should be created, maintained, or restored adjacent to all aquatic areas, where possible or impacted by the project. b. Impervious surfaces, ditches, pipes, roads, utility lines, and other infrastructure that requires maintenance, cleared rights-of-way and/or compromise the functions and values of the forested stream buffers should not occur within riparian areas, where practicable. c. To effectively reduce erosion and sedimentation impacts, best management practices specific to the extent and type of construction should be designed and installed prior to land-disturbing activities and should be maintained throughout construction. Natural fiber matting (coir) should be used for erosion control as synthetic netting can trap animals and persists in the environment beyond its intended purpose. Land disturbance should be limited to what can be stabilized quickly, preferably by the end of the workday. d. Once construction is complete, disturbed areas should be revegetated with native riparian grass and tree species as soon as possible. For maximum benefits to water quality and bank stabilization, riparian areas should be forested; however, if the areas are maintained in grass, they should not be mowed. e. Only the absolute minimum amount of work should be done within stream channels to accomplish necessary construction. The amount of disturbance to in-stream and riparian areas should not exceed what can be stabilized by the end of the workday. f. All work in or adjacent to streams should be conducted in a dry work area to the extent possible. g. Equipment should not be operated in the stream unless necessary. Machinery should be operated from the banks in a fashion that minimizes disturbance to woody vegetation. Equipment should be: (a) washed to remove any contaminant residue prior to project construction, (b) in good working order, and (c) checked to ensure there are no leaks of potential contaminants (such as oil or other lubricants) prior to and during construction. h. Measures to control sediment and erosion should be installed before any ground disturbing activities occur. Grading and backfilling should be minimized, and existing native vegetation should be retained (if possible) to maintain riparian cover for fish and wildlife. Disturbed areas should be revegetated with native grass and tree species as soon as the project is completed. 3. Tree removal recommendations: 2 a. Signed comments from the 4A Merger Meeting Minutes discuss tree preservation, to the extent possible, between 105 and Watauga River to preserve wildlife passages. Additionally, we recommend preserving trees suitable for tree-roosting bats: trees (live, dying, dead, or snag) with a diameter at breast height (DBH) of three inches or greater that exhibits any of the following characteristics: exfoliating bark, crevices, cavity, or cracks. b. Remove trees outside the active bat season (1 April – 15 Oct) if possible. If not, we encourage avoidance of the pupping season (1 June – 31 July). Lauren B. Wilson Wildlife Biologist and Range Ecologist Asheville Ecological Services Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 160 Zillicoa Street, Asheville, North Carolina 28801 lauren_wilson@fws.gov o: 828.258.3939 x42221, c: 828.275.8525 From: Turchy, Michael A <maturchy@ncdot.gov> Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2021 6:44 PM To: Wilson, Lauren B <lauren_wilson@fws.gov>; Youngman, Holland J <holland_youngman@fws.gov> Cc: Stanton, Tyler P <tstanton@ncdot.gov>; Gray, Jared S <jgray@ncdot.gov>; Burroughs, Anne M <amburroughs@ncdot.gov>; Miller, Melissa R <mrmiller2@ncdot.gov>; Dilday, Jason L <jldilday@ncdot.gov>; Hining, Kevin J <kjhining@ncdot.gov> Subject: \[EXTERNAL\] R-2566B Files and Links This email has been received from outside of DOI - Use caution before clicking on links, opening attachments, or responding. Lauren and Holland, Thanks again for your time today. Below are the links we discussed today (and a few more you may find helpful): Direct link to last week's 4b Merger Package: https://xfer.services.ncdot.gov/pdea/4B4CMtgPkgDraw/R-2566B/R- 2566B%204B%20Plan%20package%20(2020-05-04).pdf Attached: Draft meeting minutes, which includes other agency comments/questions/concerns. Attached: Kevin's findings/photos regarding aquatic life passage (a topic discussed at many sites at the 4b meeting). 3 Other helpful links: Link to Permit Applications https://xfer.services.ncdot.gov/pdea/PermApps/ Link to Issued Permits https://xfer.services.ncdot.gov/pdea/PermIssued/ Link to Merger Meeting Materials https://xfer.services.ncdot.gov/pdea/MergerMeetings/ Link to 4b and 4c Merger Meeting Materials https://xfer.services.ncdot.gov/pdea/4B4CMtgPkgDraw/ Link to Published NCDOT NEPA/SEPA Documents https://xfer.services.ncdot.gov/pdea/EnvironmentalDocs/Documents/ The link below is a good resource for plan reading. Just pretend that "Ohio" says "NCDOT." Even though it's from Ohio, most items are relevant to NCDOT. https://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Engineering/RealEstate/row/plan_reading/Plan%20Reading/PlanReadingManual .pdf Again, feel free to reach out as you review the drawings and meeting minutes. I'm going to recommend that the due date be pushed out to accommodate the work related to aquatic life passage. If you could have your comments by March 5th, that would be great, but if more time is needed, that should not be a problem. Thanks, Michael Email correspondence to and from this sender is subject to the N.C. Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties. Email correspondence to and from this sender is subject to the N.C. Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties. 4