20170502 Ver 1_WRC Comments_20170619

9 North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission 9
Gordon Myers, Executive Director
June 19, 2017
Mr. David Brown
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch
151 Patton Avenue, Room 208
Asheville, North Carolina 28801-5006
SUBJECT: Rainbow Springs Enhancement
Trough Branch and UTs to Nantahala River, Macon County
Dear Mr. Brown:
Biologists with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) reviewed an
application to restore aquatic organism passage and install a water intake on Trough Branch,
stabilize an unnamed tributary (UT) to the Nantahala River, and improve an existing pond outfall
on another UT to the Nantahala River, impacting a total of 560 feet of stream in Macon County.
I attended a site visit on May 24, 2017. 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 Nantahala River, and activities should be avoided
between October 15 and April 15 to avoid impacts to trout spawning.
The applicants propose to install a water intake in Trough Branch to power a grist mill. Water
would be diverted to the mill for no more than 6 hours roughly once a week, although diversions
may occasionally occur twice a week. No more than 50% of the instream flow will be diverted.
Trough Branch runs under West Old Murphy Road through a culvert that is perched several feet.
The applicant proposes to raise the bed elevation with a set of 10 -in high boulder steps to
backwater the culvert, improving aquatic organism passage (AOP), and to create a pool in which
the mill intake will be installed. Water will be returned to Trough Branch via an outflow
structure approximately 500 ft downstream of the intake structure.
An eroding UT to the Nantahala River will be stabilized with rock steps, constructed riffles, bank
grading, and planting. A set of three ponds on another UT will be retrofitted with improved
spillways and an inlet. All work will be done in the dry, and graded banks will be matted,
seeded with native seed mixes, and live -staked.
Mailing Address: Habitat Conservation • 1721 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1721
Telephone: [phone] • Fax: [phone]

Rainbow Springs Enhancement Page 2 June 19, 2017
Trough Br & UTs, Macon County
We appreciate the efforts that the applicants have made to stabilize eroding stream banks and
improve AOP. 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. Project activities should be avoided between October 15 and April 15 to avoid impacts to
trout spawning.
3. We recommend that the applicants avoid withdrawing water from Trough Branch during
drought periods or summer low flows to avoid impacts to aquatic biota already stressed by
natural low flows.
4. We recommend that a woody buffer of at least 30 feet be planted on both sides of the stream
as infrastructure allows to ensure project success. A wide forested buffer can ensure greater
bank stability, filter overland pollutants, and provide habitat for birds and other wildlife.
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: Greg Mullins, landowner
Andrew Bick, Wildlands Engineering
Kevin Mitchell, NC Division of Water Resources
Byron Hamstead, US Fish and Wildlife Service