20181598_WRC DEIS Comments_20111107

F
0 North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission El
Gordon Myers Executive Director
MEMORANDUM
TO Melba McGee
Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs DENR
FROM Travis Wilson, Highway Project Coordinator
Habitat Conservation Program
DATE November 7, 2011
SUBJECT North Carolina Department of Transportation(NCDOT)Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed US 70 Havelock Bypass in Craven
County North Carolina TIP No R 1015 SCH Project No 12 0082
Staff biologists with the N C Wildlife Resources Commission have reviewed the subject
DEIS and are familiar with habitat values in the project area The purpose of this review was to
assess project impacts to fish and wildlife resources Our comments are provided in accordance
with certain provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U S C 4332(2)(c)) and the _ _
Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (48 Stat 401 as amended, 16 U S C 661 667d)
NCDOT is proposing a bypass of the City of Havelock by constructing a portion of US 70
as a four lane divided freeway on new location This project is being planned under the
NEPA/Section 404 Merger 01 process WRC is represented in this process and comments
provided in conjunction with this process have been documented However the impacts
associated with the remaining alternatives are substantial and continued efforts to avoid and
minimize impacts are necessary The following comments identify specific items of concern
• The locations identified as areas WRC requested an in water work moratorium and the
applicable dates are accurate furthermore NCDOT should follow the Stream Crossing
Guidelines for Anadromous Fish Passage in the design of these crossing structures
• Sec 4 1 8 1 1 Terrestrial Community and Wildlife The document identifies impacts
associated with the bypass to include habitat fragmentation and identifies bridge
structures associated with two stream crossing as providing permeability in the form of
Mailing Address Division of Inland Fisheries 1721 Mail Service Center Raleigh NC 27699 1721
Telephone [phone] Fax [phone]

R 1015 Page 2 November 7 2011
10 30 foot rip rap free areas under the bridge The parcels of the Croatan National
Forest(CNF) impacted are designated black bear sanctuaries These sanctuaries are
designated to protect core areas of habitat for black bears to reproduce and disperse from
To accommodate larger mammals such as black bear in association with stream crossing
structures WRC recommends a minimum of 10 feet vertical clearance and 30 feet of
honzontal dry np rap free passage in order to promote a vegetated travel corndor In
order to minimize habitat fragmentation NCDOT should incorporate these dimensions
into their bridge designs
• Multiple references in the document identify the need to manage the fragmented parcels
of CNF for Red cockaded woodpeckers (RCW) In contrast the bypass is also identified
as hindering the management of these parcels particularly through the use of prescribed
burning This has been a topic of discussion over the past several years and in order to
fully evaluate the impacts associated with this project a commitment from NCDOT
resolving the issue of future management is necessary
This project will continue to go through the NEPA/Section 404Merger process, and
additional agency coordination will occur through the remaining concurrence points Thank you
for the opportunity to comment If we can be of further assistance please call me at(919) 528
9886
cc Gary Jordan, USFWS
David Wamwnght, DWQ
Tom Steffens USACE
Chris Militscher, USEPA
Steve Sollod DCM