20220276 Ver 1_WRC Comments_20220316

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
Cameron Ingram, Executive Director

Mailing Address: Habitat Conservation • 1721 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1721
Telephone: [phone] • Fax: [phone]
March 16, 2022

Mr. David Brown
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch
151 Patton Avenue, Room 208
Asheville, North Carolina 28801-5006

SUBJECT: Obst Property
UT Boylston Creek, Henderson County

Dear Mr. Brown:

Biologists with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) reviewed an
application to permit after-the-fact impacts to 120 ft of an unnamed tributary (UT) to Boylston
Creek in Henderson County. This is associated with a November 8, 2021 Notification of
Unauthorized Activity (SAW-2021-02579). Our comments 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
Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (48 Stat. 401, as amended; 16 U.S.C. 661-667d).

There are wild Rainbow Trout in the project vicinity, and any in-stream work should be avoided
between January 1 and April 15.

The applicant removed storm debris from the channel and installed a 120-ft long 18-in culvert.
No details were provided on the culvert material. It is unclear why this culvert is needed; there
was an adjacent existing culvert that provided property access. It appears that the culvert was
installed to simply bury the stream rather than restore it to stable conditions. NCWRC does not
support culverting streams to address erosion or other instability.

We offer the following recommendations to minimize impacts to fish and wildlife:
1. The installed culvert should be removed to allow the stream to flow above ground. The
stream should be restored to stable conditions and planted with native shrubs and trees.
2. In-stream work should be avoided between January 1 and April 15 to minimize impacts to
wild trout reproduction.
3. In-channel work should be accomplished as quickly as possible and vigilance used in
sediment and erosion control during site preparation, construction, and clean up. Disturbed
areas should be seeded, mulched and/or matted as soon as possible, preferably at the end of
Obst Property Page 2 March 16, 2022
UT to Boyston Cr, Henderson Co
each work day. A native riparian seed mix and native shrubs and trees should be used to
permanently stabilize disturbed stream areas.
4. Any erosion control matting used should be free of plastic or nylon mesh, as this type of
mesh frequently entangles wildlife and is slow to degrade, resulting in a hazard that may last
for years.

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

Sincerely,

Andrea Leslie
Mountain Region Coordinator, Habitat Conservation Program

ec: Mark and Tavia Obst, landowners
Andrew Moore, NC Division of Water Resources