20160420 Ver 1_WRC Comments_20160531

9 North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission 9
Gordon Myers, Executive Director
May 31, 2016
Mr. William Elliott
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch
151 Patton Avenue, Room 208
Asheville, North Carolina 28801-5006
SUBJECT: Wells Stream Restoration Project
Sandymush Creek, Buncombe County
Dear Mr. Elliott:
Biologists with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) reviewed an
application to restore 3,100 feet of Sandymush Creek in Buncombe County. 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).
Project activities should not impact trout reproduction and do not need to be avoided during the
trout moratorium.
We support this project as described, as it proposes to restore unstable reaches of stream and
improve in -stream habitat. The project involves construction of bankfull benches, bank sloping,
installation of in -stream structures, and planting a native riparian buffer 20-35 feet wide. In -
channel work will not be done in the dry, and much of the stream construction will occur from
the top of the bank. We recommend that measures to minimize the risk of fine sediment
mobilization and downstream loss be used wherever possible. The thalweg should be diverted
away from work areas where there is greater potential for fine sediment loss such as brush toe
and root wad installation areas.
We offer the following recommendations to minimize impacts to fish and wildlife:
1. 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 each work day.
2. Measures to reduce the risk of fine sediment liberation and loss should be employed. Where
there is greater risk of fine sediment loss, divert the thalweg around the work area.
Mailing Address: Habitat Conservation • 1721 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1721
Telephone: [phone] • Fax: [phone]

Wells Stream Restoration Project
Sandymush Creek, Buncombe County
May 31, 2016
3. Any erosion control matting used be free of plastic or nylon mesh, as this type of mesh
netting 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: Jake McLean, Wildlands Engineering
Zan Price, NC Division of Water Resources
Byron Hamstead, US Fish and Wildlife Service