20160594 Ver 1_WRC Comments_20160607

9 North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission 9
Gordon Myers, Executive Director
June 6, 2016
Mr. William Elliott
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch
151 Patton Avenue, Room 208
Asheville, North Carolina 28801-5006
SUBJECT: Asheville City Greenways: French Broad River Greenway West, Clingman Forest
Greenway, Town Branch Greenway
UTs to French Broad River and Town Branch, Buncombe County
Dear Mr. Elliott:
Biologists with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) reviewed
applications to impact streams and wetlands associated with three greenways in Asheville,
Buncombe County. These applications include the (1) French Broad River Greenway West,
which proposes to culvert an unnamed tributary (UT) to the French Broad River, impacting 65
feet of channel, (2) Town Branch Greenway, which proposes to fill 0.08 acres of wetland with
greenway construction and impact 77 feet of Town Creek with bridge abutments and stormwater
dissipating riprap, and (3) Clingman Forest Greenway, which proposes to impact 30 feet of an
UT to the French Broad River with abutments for a greenway bridge. 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).
These projects should not affect trout and the activities do not need to be avoided during the trout
spawning moratorium.
NCWRC has the following recommendations to minimize project impacts to fish and wildlife
resources:
1. Be vigilant with sediment and erosion control during site staging, construction, and cleanup,
paying special attention to wetland and stream areas.
2. Coir matting over seed and straw should be used on stream banks. Matting used for
stabilization on the greenway project should be free of nylon mesh; nylon mesh netting
frequently entangles wildlife and is slow to degrade resulting in a hazard that may last for
years.
Mailing Address: Habitat Conservation • 1721 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1721
Telephone: [phone] • Fax: [phone]

Three Asheville Greenway Projects Page 2 June 6, 2016
UTs French Broad R, Town Cr, Buncombe Co
3. Avoid the use of Tall Fescue in temporary seed mixes.
4. We recommend that disturbed areas along the greenway and stream banks be seeded with a
permanent seed mix featuring native grasses and forbs. The streams themselves should be
planted with native woody vegetation in order to provide channel stability.
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 Byers, Baker Engineering
Vinnie Sullivan, City of Asheville
Zan Price, NC Division of Water Resources