20130573 Ver 1_WRC Comments_20130614

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
Gordon Myers, Executive Director

April 10, 2013

Mrs. Tasha McCormick
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch
151 Patton Avenue, Room 208
Asheville, North Carolina 28801-5006

SUBJECT: Nationwide Permit for Quality Oil Company, LLC
Culvert, UT Beaver Creek, Ashe County

Dear Mrs. McCormick:

Mr. E. Rymer with Quality Oil Company, LLC requested a permit to put 143 feet of culvert in a tributary
to Beaver Creek in Ashe County. Comments from the WRC 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 the Fish and
Wildlife Coordination Act (48 Stat. 401, as amended; 16 U.S.C. 661-667d).

The stream at the site is probably poor quality due to the extensive development and uncontrolled
stormwater in the watershed. For this reason, we suspect that it does not support trout as do some better
quality tributaries to Beaver Creek to the west. Although the stream itself does not support trout, Beaver
Creek supports wild brown trout. This project will require a considerable amount of stream disturbance
and likely cause downstream siltation. Therefore, the culvert work should not occur from October 15 to
April 15 to avoid impacts on brown trout spawning.

We have no other major concerns with this project provided it complies with the Regional Conditions and
effective sediment and erosion controls are used during construction to minimize downstream siltation.

Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on this regulatory action. Please contact me at
[phone] extension 24 if you have any questions about these comments.

Mailing Address:
-1721
Telephone:Fax:
[phone] [phone]

Quality Oil Company, LLC Page 2 April 10, 2013
Ashe

Sincerely,

Dave McHenry, Mountain Region Coordinator, Habitat Conservation Program

ec: Mr. Derek Goddard, Blue Ridge Environmental Consultants
Mr. Kevin Hining and Mr. Kin Hodges, NCWRC