1 / 26

Presented at the 8 th Stakeholder Meeting Mike Herrmann, NCEEP Central Watershed Planner

Ecosystem Enhancement Program (EEP) Draft Assessment Findings. Presented at the 8 th Stakeholder Meeting Mike Herrmann, NCEEP Central Watershed Planner January 12th, 2010. Key Preliminary Findings (Phase I). Indicators of stress are more prevalent in Howards Creek than Indian.

deon
Download Presentation

Presented at the 8 th Stakeholder Meeting Mike Herrmann, NCEEP Central Watershed Planner

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Ecosystem Enhancement Program (EEP) Draft Assessment Findings Presented at the 8th Stakeholder Meeting Mike Herrmann, NCEEP Central Watershed Planner January 12th, 2010

  2. Key Preliminary Findings (Phase I) • Indicators of stress are more prevalent in Howards Creek than Indian. • Lower Indian Creek currently rated as impaired. • Land cover in the LWP is predominantly agricultural, making overall habitat conditions in the area marginal. • All three HUs in the LWP have stream and wetland impacts hindering their hydrology, habitat and water quality functions. • Urban subwatersheds in and around Cherryville have potential stormwater runoff problems. • High bacteria levels at Cherryville’s drinking water intake are concerning and potential sources for this contamination need to be identified.

  3. Phase II Assessments • Investigate potential preservation opportunities. • Visit streams and wetland and identify stressors hindering their hydrology, habitat and water quality functions. • Investigate opportunities for improving watershed functions. • Assess stormwater impacts and potential stormwater project opportunities in urban subwatersheds • Investigate water quality problems including sources for bacteria contamination through stream monitoring • Assess aquatic health (biology) of streams

  4. Assessment Methods

  5. Assessment Methods Habitat • 69 stream sites evaluated using DWQs Habitat Assessment Protocol • DWQ (18 sites) • ENTRIX (51 sites) • 50 wetland sites identified and evaluated (98 sites visited): • NC WAM (29 wetlands) / DWQ • Army Corps Wetland Delineation Protocol (21 wetlands) / ENTRIX • Identified priority Biodiversity and Wildlife Habitat • Used State Conservation Planning Tool as a guide.

  6. Assessments Methods

  7. Assessment Methods Hydrology • 69 stream sites evaluated using the Bank Stability sub-metric of DWQ’s Habitat Assessment Protocol • DWQ (18 sites) • ENTRIX (51 sites) A B

  8. Assessment Methods Hydrology • 43 streams sites evaluated for capacity to allow overbank flooding. • Comparison of channel flow capacity against regional runoff data.

  9. Assessment Methods Water Quality • Reviewed existing water quality and aquatic biology data; • Conducted a watershed reconnaissance of water quality at 37 sites; • Assessed benthic macroinvertebrate communities at 13 sites; • Physical/chemical water quality monitoring at 9 sites • Compared results against 5 regional ambient monitoring sites.

  10. Assessment Methods Stormwater • 2 Subwatersheds around Cherryville investigated for stormwater management opportunities • Drainage area • Available space • Landuse • 1 Site investigated at West Lincoln High School.

  11. Assessment Results

  12. Assessment Results Habitat – Stream Habitat Scores

  13. AssessmentResults Habitat Stream Habitat Scores

  14. AssessmentResults Biodiversity and Wildlife Habitat • Additions Included: • 1 Unique Site • 6 High Functioning streams • 17 High Functioning Wetlands • 2 Highly rated benthos streams

  15. Howards Creek – Stream Preservation

  16. AssessmentResults Hydrology Bank Stability Sub-measure

  17. AssessmentResults Water Quality Fecal Coliform Concentrations

  18. Discussion

  19. Stressors - Historic Impacts Stream Channelization & Incision Lower Indian Creek Stream Dredging circa 1915 (Photo Courtesy of the Lincoln County Historical Society.)

  20. Watershed StressorsCattle Creek Wetland & Stream Lower Howards Creek Wetland Enhancement Opportunity

  21. Watershed Stressors Cattle/Poor Vegetation Restoration site R-51 (Subwatershed H-1)

  22. Watershed Stressors Streambank Erosion/Poor Substrate Restoration site R-31 (Subwatershed I-10)

  23. Watershed Stressors Stormwater Runoff West Lincoln High School Parking Lot Runoff (Subwatershed I-7)

  24. In Summary… • Indicators of stress vary in the watersheds • Howards Creek (Poor Riparian Habitat, Impacted Wetlands, Poor Substrate, Cattle) • Indian Creek (Incised Channels, Stormwater, Cattle) • High quality habitat present, but on a limited basis, in both watersheds • Headwaters for Indian Creek in better health than Howards • Numerous opportunities exist to improve the watershed functions of habitat, hydrology and water quality

  25. What’s Next? • Complete Functional Evaluations • Habitat • Hydrology • Water Quality • Circulate Draft Document (Early Feb) • Finalize Detailed Assessment Report (Early March)

  26. Mill Creek - Stream Preservation Preservation Site P-43 on Mill Creek (Subwatershed I-11).

More Related