Wildlands’ project wins APWA-NC’s 2019 Project of the Year!

We are honored to announce that our Reedy Creek Stream Restoration Design-Build project was awarded the 2019 APWA-NC Stormwater Project of the Year in the category of Natural Systems! The selection committee was “impressed by the overall scope and success of the project.”

Wildlands served as the prime consultant for the Reedy Creek Stream Restoration Design-Build project, which was the first design-build project to generate stream and wetland mitigation units for the City of Charlotte Umbrella Stream and Wetland Mitigation Bank.

 

(below image-collage courtesy of APWA-NC)

Wildlands Advocates for Thoughtful Industry Policies

Early in 2019, the EPA began a process to rewrite the Clean Water Act definition of Waters of the US by publishing a draft rule for public comment.  The proposed rule threatens to significantly curtail the protection afforded under the Act to our Nation’s streams, wetlands, and waterways.  Wildlands worked with our state industry group, the NC Environmental Restoration Association, to develop a formal response letter representing our industry’s perspective on the proposed rule.  The association’s letter pointed out a number of technical and scientific flaws with the proposed rule.  For instance, one stated goal of the rule is to ‘create regulatory certainty for the regulated community’ however there are numerous terms that are introduced in the rule but are undefined and subject to interpretation.  We also pointed out significant flaws with the financial impact analysis that is discussed in the proposed rule.  As of September 2019, the EPA had announced plans to rescind the  2015 Waters of the US definition that was proposed under the Obama Administration.  This is the first step in a stated three prong approach from the Trump Administration to permanently rollback water quality protections under the Clean Water Act.  Wildlands is continuing to work with partners at the state and federal levels to limit the impact of such changes on our industry and the water resources we all work to restore and protect.

 

Ribbon-cutting ceremony at Reedy Creek Stream Restoration Project was a success

On June 4th, the City of Charlotte hosted an on-site ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the project’s successfully partnerships, environmental improvements, and community benefits. Check out the below slideshow of photos from this event.

About the project: Wildlands was selected to perform this first design-build project to generate stream and wetland mitigation units for the City of Charlotte Umbrella Stream and Wetland Mitigation Bank. This pilot project is located within the environmentally significant Reedy Creek Nature Preserve and involved the restoration of deeply incised, eroded stream channels to appropriately sized bankfull channels with access to a floodplain and preservation of existing high-quality streams and wetlands. The project consists of approximately 26,400 linear feet (LF) of stream restoration and 15,600 LF of stream preservation for a total of 26,000 stream mitigation credits. Approximately 1.0 wetland mitigation unit will be accomplished through enhancement and preservation of wetlands.

CLICK HERE to visit the project website.

 

Wildlands’ Falling Creek Mitigation Site withstands 30” rainfall event during Hurricane Florence

Wildlands completed construction on the Falling Creek and Grantham Branch stream and wetland mitigation banks near Grantham, NC in March of 2018. In September of 2018, Hurricane Florence made landfall near Wilmington and slowly moved across the state shattering rainfall records throughout eastern NC. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported a rainfall total of 25 inches in nearby Mt. Olive, NC. Detailed records maintained by local hog farmers for their waste lagoons indicated that as much as 30 inches of rain fell on these two mitigation banks over a three-day period.  These two banks restored, enhanced, and preserved over 35,000 feet of stream and 320 acres of wetlands.  The hurricane only caused damage to two stream reaches, each under 500 feet. The damage was the result of streambank erosion from streams outside of the project that deposited within the project and filled these stream reaches. At the time of the damage, repairs were thought necessary but after a second assessment one month later, the streams appeared to be moving the sediment through the system and ‘self-repairing.’  Within three months, the damaged streams had returned to the as-built condition and no repairs were necessary.  This project serves as further evidence that when streams are restored to natural dimensions and pattern storm events dissipate energy properly within the channels and on the floodplains and are resistant to damage.  The below photos were taken in September 2018, after Hurricane Florence.

 

Falling Creek Mitigation Site
Falling Creek Mitigation Site
Falling Creek Mitigation Site