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Home My WebLink About20080511 Ver 2_Year 1 Monitoring Report_20131203 First Annual Monitoring Report LaGrange Bank Parcel Greene Environmental Services, LLC Neuse River Umbrella Mitigation Bank DWQ#: 08-0511v2 Year 2013 Submitted to: Katie Merritt NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources Division of Water Resources –Water Quality Programs 1650 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-1650 Phone: (919) 807-6371; Fax: (919) 8076494 Submitted by:Jeff Becker 1004 Glencastle Way Raleigh, NC 27606 Phone: (919) 215-3899; Fax: (919) 859-0911 First Annual Monitoring Report LaGrange Bank Parcel Greene Environmental Services, LLC Neuse River Umbrella Mitigation Bank DWQ#: 08-0511v2Year 2013 Introduction and Background Greene Environmental Services, LLC (GES) of Snow Hill, North Carolinaadded the LaGrange site to the GES Neuse River Basin Umbrella Mitigation Bank. The LaGrange site (bank parcel) is located at the southwest intersection of NC 903 and Old Jason Road (SR 1501), north of LaGrange, in Lenoir County, North Carolina (Figures1and 2). The latitude/longitude coordinates of the site are approximately 77°44.315 W and 35°20.588N. The purpose of the nutrient mitigation bank is to improve water quality within the Neuse River Basin by reducing nutrient and sediment inputs to the watershed and provide off-site mitigation for development requiring nutrient offsets. The bank parcel is located within the Middle Neuse Watershed (HUC: 03020202). The site drains to Meeting House Branch (Stream Index # 27-72-3), which drains into Bear Creek (Stream Index # 27-72-(0.1)), a major tributary to the Neuse River. According to the NC Division of Water Quality Basinwide Information Management System, Meeting House Branch is classified as C; Sw, NSW. The bank parcel is approximately 3.39acres, including 0.87acres of riparian buffer and 2.52 acres of nutrient offset buffer restoration (Figures 3 and 4).This bank parcel was established under the terms and conditions of the GES Neuse River Basin Umbrella Mitigation Bank made and entered into by Mr. Bobby Ham of Greene Environmental Services, LLC, acting as the Bank Sponsor and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources –Division of Water Quality which was signed by the Division Director on October 3, 2008. The bank parcel was previous agricultural cropland and was planted with character species during March of 2010. During the planting process, Eric Kulz and Lia Gilleski of DWQ visited the site and determined that it was suitable for nutrient offset mitigation. Monitoring and Results for Year 2012 As specified in the LaGrange Bank Parcel Development Package (BPDP), this report represents the first year of vegetative monitoring. The BPDP requires the submission of an annual monitoring report each of five successive years. The LaGrange parcel was initially planted with character trees in 2010 and 2011 at a rate of 413 seedlings per acre (Table 1).A supplemental planting was done in 2012 at a rate of 108seedlings per acre. Thus prior to the submission of this first annual monitoring report a total of 521 seedlingsper acre had been planted on the3.39-acreparcel. In each of the two monitoring plotsin the LaGrange Parcel, tree stemswere recorded by species in October 2013according to Carolina Vegetation Survey sampling protocols.Plot locations are mapped in Figure 5. Vegetation plot photo points were located at the northwestern corner of the plots (Figure 6). During the October 2013monitoring effort, a total of 45trees representingninespecies were recorded in the two monitoring plots(Table 2). The total average density was 911trees per acre. Thirty-twoof the 45trees within the plots were from seedlings planted by GES; thusaverage planted seedling density was 648 treesper acre(Table 3).Seventy-one percent of the trees were plantedspecies;bald cypress and river birch accounted for approximately half of the planted seedlings with the remainder including black gum, sycamore, swamp chestnut oak and cherrybark oak (Table 4).Red maple, loblolly pine and black oak became established via natural colonization. For total trees as well as planted treesthe 320 trees per acre success criterion was exceeded. Overall Condition, Maintenance and Supplemental Plantings Vegetation establishment and growth has been good at the LaGrange parcel. Growing conditions, e.g, adequate rainfall, length of growing season and fertile soils, have been advantageous since the initial plantings were undertaken. The height of some seedlings, especially river birch, planted in 2010, now exceeds 3 m with diameters (dbh) of 8-10 cm. Other species exhibit slower growth but are performing as expected. Browsing by deer has been moderately problematic for seedlings in exposed areas and especially problematic for green ash seedlings. There has been some evidence of depredation by rabbits and possibly beavers and other rodents. Annual, herbaceous weed growth has been excessive; this would expectedly result in above-ground and below-ground competition with planted seedlings. However,the weeds likely afford the seedlings some greater advantage by protecting them from browsing deer. In an effort to control rabbit and rodent populations, two 15-foot tall hawkperches were installed on the site. No remedial or supplemental planting is required for the 2014growing season. The next monitoring effort will be in October 2014. Table 1. LaGrange Tract. Approximate number of seedlings planted 2010, 2011 and 2012 on 3.39 acre tractprior to the first annual monitoring effort.Year 2013Annual Report, Greene Environmental Services, LLC. Planted Common Planted January SpeciesFebruary/MarchTotals Name2012 2010 and 2011 Betula nigraRiver birch50400450 Diospyros Persimmon25025 virginiana Fraxinus Green ash0200200 pennsylvanica Liriodendron Yellow poplar20020 tulipifera 230 Nyssa sylvaticaBlackgum30200 Platanus Sycamore1200120 occidentalis White oak25025 Quercus alba Quercus laevisTurkey oak25025 Cherrybark 0200200 Quercus pagodaoak Quercus Live oak45045 virginiana Taxodium 425 Bald cypress25400 distichum Total Seedlings Planted36514001765 Average Number Seedlings 108413521 Planted per Acre 2 Table 2.Stem densityfor all tree speciesin 100 mmonitoring plots at LaGrange Parcel.Year 2013Annual Report, Greene Environmental Services, LLC. Plot LAG-1Plot LAG-2TractAverages Common Species Number Stems Number Stems Number Stems Name Stemsper acreStemsper acreStemsper acre Acer rubrumRed maple416262435202 Betula nigraRiver birch28152023.5142 Nyssa Black gum28141623121 biflora Pinus taedaLoblolly pine00281140 Platanus Sycamore281281281 occidentalis Quercus Swamp 140140140 michauxiichestnut oak Quercus Cherrybark 28100140 oak pagoda Quercus Black oak001400.520 velutina Taxodium Bald cypress832431215.5223 distichum Totals for All Species218502497222.5911 2 Table 3.Stem density for planted tree species in 100 mmonitoring plots at LaGrange Parcel. Year 2013Annual Report, Greene Environmental Services, LLC. Plot LAG-1Plot LAG-2TractAverages Common Species Number Stems Number Stems Number Stems Name Stemsper acreStemsper acreStemsper acre Betula nigraRiver birch28152023.5142 Nyssa Black gum28141623121 biflora Platanus Sycamore281281281 occidentalis Quercus Swamp 140140140 michauxiichestnut oak Cherrybark Quercus 28100140 pagodaoak Taxodium Bald cypress832431215.5223 distichum Totals for All Species176881560716648 2 Table 4. Relative density of species in 100 mmonitoring plots in LaGrange Parcel.2013Annual Report, Greene Environmental Services, LLC. Percent of Percent of SpeciesCommon nameTotal Stems Planted Stems by Speciesby Species Acer rubrumRed maple22NA Betula nigraRiver birch1622 Black gum1319 Nyssa biflora Loblolly pine4NA Pinus taeda Platanus Sycamore 913 occidentalis Quercus Swamp chestnut 46 michauxiioak Quercus pagodaCherrybark oak46 Quercus velutinaBlack oak2NA Taxodium Bald cypress 2434 distichum Percent of planted stems to 71% of Stems are of Planted Species total stems LaGrange Site 3.5 mi Figure 1 – Vicinity Map Bank Parcel Location N.T.S Figure 2 – USGS Topographic Map La Grange Bank Parcel Conservation Easement Boundary Figure 3 – Aerial Map Neuse Buffer Area Nutrient Offset Area N.T.S. Neuse Buffer Area: 37,939.70 sq. ft. (0.87 acres) Nutrient Offset Area: 109,581.98 sq. ft. (2.52 acres) Figure 4 – Survey Excerpt Figure 5. Monitoring Plot Locations Monitoring Plot LAG-1 Monitoring Plot LAG-2 Figure 6. Monitoring Plot Photographs