North Carolina Site Visit
March 29 – 31, 2005
[ Objective | Participating Scan Team Members | Local Participants | Summary | Photo Gallery ]
Objective
This site visit surveyed North Carolina’s wetland mitigation program (known as
the Ecosystem Enhancement
Program) and included field trips to the following project sites:
Overhills-Jumping Run Stream and Wetland Restoration Project and Haw
Slopes State Natural Area Preservation Site. The NCEEP framework is
one of the most innovative approaches to wetland banking in the country.
It involves a tri-party agreement between NCDOT, NCDENR, and USACE
that redefines the mitigation responsibilities and regulatory authorities
of these agencies, although well within the legal bounds of federal
and state requirements. The institutional changes and programmatic
frameworks developed for the EEP have resulted in establishing essentially
a new agency in North Carolina that handles mitigation for the DOT
and other groups in need of mitigation support. To date, no highway
project has been delayed in North Carolina due to mitigation since
the EEP's establishment.
Participating Scan Team Members
- Alex Levy, FHWA Headquarters
- Rob Ayers, FHWA, North Carolina Division
- Robert Brumbaugh, USACE Headquarters
- Ann Campbell, USEPA Headquarters
- Palmer Hough, USEPA Headquarters
- Pat Clements, USFWS
- Katie McDermott, CTE, NC State University (Facilitator)
Local Participants
- John Sullivan, FHWA, NC Division
- Donnie Brew, FHWA, NC Division
- Roger Sheats, NCDOT
- Craig Deal, NCDOT
- David Franklin, USACE, Wilmington District
- Dempsey Benton, NCDENR
- Melanie Allen, EEP Project Manager
- Barb Satler, EEP
- Suzanne Klimek, EEP
- David Robinson, CTE/EEP
- Chris Mitchner, EPA
- Pete Benjamin, FWS
- Lisa Creasman, Conservation Trust of North Carolina
- Elaine Chiosso, Haw River Assembly
Site Visit Summary
Coming Soon!
Photo Gallery of NC Mitigation Sites
(All photographs are at a screen resolution of 72 dpi. If you would like a higher-resolution copy of a photograph for print purposes, please contact Katie McDermott, CTE technology transfer director.)
Overhills-Jumping Run Stream and Wetland Restoration Project
This 70-acre site in Harnett County, owned by the U.S. Department
of Defense as part of the Fort Bragg Military Reservation, involves
both wetland restoration (65 acres) and stream rechannelization
(4,530 linear feet) activities, which are 95 percent complete. The
site, characterized by hydric sandy soils and modified ~65 to 100
years ago for agricultural use, is being restored to a bottomland
hardwood forest system. The stream was first altered in 1955 and
currently is being relocated to the original channel site, identified
by the analysis of soil pits that revealed channel and woody debris.
The stream realignment will result in short-term habitat loss in
the existing channel, but will generate long-term benefits to the
overall site following the new channel construction. No endangered
species have been found on site, according to a recent Fort Bragg
survey. The site is an example of NCEEP's design-bid-build mitigation
approach.
                  
Haw Slopes State Natural Area Preservation Site
This 950-acre preservation site was purchased for $2.55 million
and offsets 6,400 linear feet of TIP impacts. The site, which runs
along the Haw River, has high scenic value, and is well suited for
recreational activities, such as canoing and kayaking. The site
is considered a conservation corridor that connects with USACE lands
and state-owned park lands. It protects a federally endangered fish
(Cape Fear Shiner), rare mussel and dragonfly species, 50 nesting
birds, and is located upstream of the Jordan Lake water supply waters.
The site is managed by a unit of the Jordan Lake State Park and
involves a partnership with the Triangle Lands Conservancy, who
helped facilitate the acquisition of this site as the first preservation
site for North Carolina's Ecosystem Enhancement Program. For more
information, see www.hawriver.org.
                     
For more information on these projects, please contact Katie McDermott, CTE technology transfer director.
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