20140832 Ver 2_WRC Comments_20170123

9 North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission 9
Gordon Myers, Executive Director
January 23, 2017
Mr. David Brown
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch
151 Patton Avenue, Room 208
Asheville, North Carolina 28801-5006
SUBJECT: Cartoogechaye Creek (Tinsley) Stream Restoration Project
Cartoogechaye Creek, Macon County
Dear Mr. Brown:
Biologists with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) reviewed an
application to restore 1,577 feet of Cartoogechaye Creek and Tinsley Branch in Macon 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).
There are Rainbow and Brown Trout in the vicinity of the project, and activities should be
avoided between October 15 and April 15 in order to avoid impacts to trout spawning. In
addition, this reach of Cartoogechaye Creek is part of the Cartoogechaye Creek Aquatic Habitat,
a natural area rated High by the NC Natural Heritage Program due to the richness of rare species
it contains. In the vicinity of the site, Cartoogechaye Creek contains the Eastern Hellbender
(Cyptobranchus alleganiensis), Wounded Darter (Etheostoma vulneratum), Little Tennessee
Crayfish (Cambarus georgiae), and Smoky Dace (Clinostomus sp.), all of which are US Federal
Species of Concern and NC Special Concern. Trout and these rare species are especially
sensitive to excess sediment, and proper sediment and erosion control is essential to protect this
aquatic community.
We support this project as described, as it proposes to restore unstable reaches of stream and
improve in -stream habitat. Pattern, dimension, and profile will be restored where needed; a
bankf ill bench, in -stream structures, brush toe, and a riparian buffer of 24 feet from the top of
the bank will be established. Where possible, existing woody vegetation will be protected.
Channel construction on Cartoogechaye Creek will be performed in the wet, and a temporary
barrier will be installed to isolate work areas from the current. An axial pump will route
sediment -laden water from the work area through a silt bag.
Mailing Address: Habitat Conservation • 1721 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1721
Telephone: [phone] • Fax: [phone]

Cartoogechaye Cr Stream Restoration Page 2 January 23, 2017
Cartoogechaye Cr, Macon County
We offer the following recommendations to minimize impacts to fish and wildlife resources:
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. Any erosion control matting used should 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.
3. Project activities should be avoided between October 15 and April 15 in order to avoid
impacts to trout spawning.
4. We request that shelter rocks potentially used by Hellbenders be left in place during
construction activities. Shelter rocks are typically large flat rocks at least a foot in diameter.
5. We request that a pre -construction meeting be held on-site with the contractor,
designer, and agency partners.
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: Chris Engle, Wolf Creek Engineering
Andrew Moore, NC Division of Water Resources
Byron Hamstead, US Fish and Wildlife Service