FEATURED RESTORATION PROJECTS
TAR RIVER HEADWATERS STREAM MITIGATION BANKS
TAR RIVER HEADWATERS RIPARIAN BUFFER
& NUTRIENT OFFSET MITIGATION BANK
The Tar River Headwaters family of restoration projects includes the Tar River Headwaters Stream Mitigation Bank, Tar River Headwaters Riparian Buffer and Nutrient Offset Mitigation Bank and the Full-Delivery Tar River Headwaters Wetland Restoration Project. The properties are located in Person County, NC on the 228-acre Huff Family Farm owned by Roy & Joyce Huff. The service area for this project is the Tar-Pam 03020101 Hydrologic Unit Code. MMI has developed these projects over the last 10 years and are in the third year of successful monitoring.
Cattle were fenced out, stream geometry was restored to a more natural pattern, profile and dimension, and tens of thousands of bottomland hardwood trees were planted. The stream mitigation bank was approved by the NC IRT while the riparian buffer bank was approved by the NCDEQ-DWR and the wetland project was approved by the NCDMS.
The Tar River Lands Conservancy now holds the conservation easement for the mitigation bank property while the Huffs still own the farm. All of these projects are trending toward a successful ecological trajectory and will be monitored until 2024. This complex of restoration sites is the signature project for MMI. Stream, buffer and nutrient (N&P) credits are available for permit mitigation obligations in the service area.
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FORREST CREEK STREAM AND BUFFER MITIGATION BANK
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Forrest Creek Stream and Buffer Mitigation Bank (2006), The Forrest Creek Stream and Buffer Mitigation Bank is located approximately seven miles northeast of Hillsborough, NC (Neuse River Basin 03020201). The mitigation bank is designed to replace lost functions and acreage or linear footage of streams and buffers adversely impacted by permitted activities under CWA Section 404/1. The Forrest Creek site is located on one of the last remaining dairy farms in Orange County, NC owned by the Latta Brothers. Over 10,000 linear feet of main stem and tributaries to Forrest Creek were restored, enhanced and/or preserved. This area is undergoing active development pressure and this farm is being preserved through conservation easements on both uplands (Orange County Open Space) and stream corridors (FC Mitigation Bank).
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Degraded streams were restored using Natural Channel Design concepts. The design created a stable pattern, profile and dimension along the degraded streams. These techniques included the installation of rock cross-vanes, single-arm rock vanes and onsite rootwads. Cattle were fenced out of the flood plain areas and alternative watering devices were installed for the cattle. The bank is one of the first approved under separate federal and state laws within the same site. Both stream mitigation units (SMU’s) and buffer mitigation units (BMU’s) were generated for sale in the Neuse 01 watershed.
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POTT CREEK STREAM RESTORATION PROJECTS
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Catawba County, NC
Pott Creek I - Mitigation Bank, NC - While at Marsh Resources Inc. (a subsidiary of the Williams Companies) - NC Department of Transportation (Client). Responsible for approval, conceptual design, construction implementation and monitoring of a 75-acre bottomland hardwood wetland and stream restoration project in the Catawba River Watershed.
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Catawba County, NC
Pott Creek II - Stream Restoration Project is an former cattle pasture in Catawba County, NC. It is now a bottomland hardwood wetland and stream restoration project. Over 10,000 linear feet of stream restoration was developed for the NCDOT for future road projects in the Catawba River Watershed. Construction was completed in spring 2004.
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The site was a cattle pasture and corn field, which allowed the cattle direct access to the main branch of Pott Creek and Rhodes Mill Branch. Historically, both creeks were dredged and straightened and were actively eroding. An unnamed tributary to Pott Creek flows on the property from the northwest and is degraded due to cattle use. The creeks had pattern, profile and dimension restored and were revegetated with native plant species.
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BOG BROOK ENHANCEMENT BANK
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The Bog Brook Wetland Enhancement Bank was the first operating mitigation bank in the State of New Jersey approved in 1994 and was successfully closed in 2004. While at Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. (Transco), Rich Mogensen was responsible for approval, design, implementation and monitoring of the first operating private wetland mitigation bank in the State of New Jersey. This was the first mitigation bank in NJ to achieve all success criteria and be successfully closed. The site is located in East Brunswick, NJ and was a 7-acre restored forested wetland immediately adjacent to Bog Brook which flows into Mill Pond, a historic pond in Milltown NJ. A small vernal pond highlights this pioneering mitigation bank. The credits were used for pipeline expansion projects that impacted forested wetlands in the same watershed as the bank.
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The bank was one of the very first banks approved by the NJ Freshwater Mitigation Council and was used exclusively for NJDEP permits for Transco pipeline expansion projects. The project is the only bank successfully closed in New Jersey.
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