Wildlands Engineering

April 21, 2017

Wildlands’ completes construction on Candy Creek Stream Mitigation Project.

Construction has recently been completed on Wildlands’ Candy Creek Stream Mitigation project in Guildford County, NC, south of the City of Reidsville. The project will provide 15,456 stream mitigation units (SMUs) on Candy Creek and nine of its tributaries in the Haw River Basin.The project will create significant ecological improvement through exclusion of cattle from the stream, restoration of aquatic and terrestrial habitats, and the removal of two farm ponds. The project will also decrease nutrient and sediment loads from the watershed by eliminating widespread, severe bank erosion, connecting the onsite streams to their floodplains, and restoring native riparian buffers. The project includes categorical exclusion documentation, existing conditions assessment, landowner coordination, conservation easement acquisition, stream restoration design, permitting, construction, and seven years of post-construction monitoring.

NC stream mitigation, stream restoration

NC stream mitigation, NC stream restoration

February 27, 2017

Construction wraps up on our Vile Creek Stream and Wetland Mitigation Project.

Wildlands is pleased to announce that construction is complete on the Vile Creek stream and wetland mitigation project in Alleghany County, NC. The project includes the restoration and enhancement of 7,900 feet of streams and restoration of 6.5 acres of wetlands. The wetlands restoration includes the expansion of Southern Appalachian Bog habitat which is intended to support populations of bog turtles (Glyptemys muhlenbergii). In addition, Vile Creek drains to Little River within the project conservation easement, which is a hatchery supported trout stream stocked by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC). Vile Creek also holds trout which migrate from Little River and fish habitat was constructed as an element of the project. The floodplains and wetlands on the site were planted with native tree and shrub species. Shrubs were planted on much of the site so that the bog habitat areas will not be overly shaded. By closeout, the project will result in 5,146 stream mitigation units (SMUs) and 5.82 wetland mitigation units (WMUs).

NC wetland mitigation, NC stream mitigation

January 25, 2017

Wildlands adopts a portion of Little Sugar Creek in Charlotte!

Wildlands is pleased to announce our adoption of a portion of Little Sugar Creek (LSC) in Charlotte, NC. Our adopted portion of stream stretches from Morehead Street to Charlottetowne Avenue. Through this program, the Wildlands team has committed to cleaning our portion of LSC at least twice a year. This is just a small token of our dedication to improving the water quality and ecological health of our watersheds.

Save

December 13, 2016

Construction is underway on the Chantilly Ecological Sanctuary at Briar Creek

Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte have partnered on this stream enhancement and storm water quality retrofit project along Briar Creek near the Chantilly neighborhood. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Service’s overall goals of the project are to restore Briar Creek, Edwards Branch, and the Chantilly Tributary, improve water quality through improved storm water BMPs, and obtain stream mitigation credits for the City of Charlotte’s Umbrella Mitigation Bank.

Prior to the project, the Doral and Cavalier apartment complexes were located within the 100-year floodplain of the project site. Mecklenburg County purchased and removed the flood-prone buildings as part of the FEMA flood mitigation buyout program, which provided the space necessary to expand the existing community park, incorporate storm water quality retrofits, and restore portions of degraded streams. Over 9,000 LF of stream restoration and enhancement will be performed, two storm water quality BMPs will be installed within the floodplain of Briar Creek, and the ground will be prepared for greenway and recreational trails to be expanded in the future. Extensive hydraulic analysis was required to support a floodplain no-rise certification. Wildlands also prepared a feasibility study and an alternatives analysis for the Chantilly Tributary and BMP components of the project. Wildlands Realty negotiated five donated storm water easements on private parcels. Construction began in summer 2016 and is currently ongoing.

September 13, 2016

Win Taylor receives Professional Wetland Scientist certification

Join us in congratulating Wildlands team member, Win Taylor, for receiving his Professional Wetland Scientist certification! This certification is awarded by the Society of Wetland Scientists Professional Certification Program, which evaluates each applicant based on a combination of academic coursework, continuing education training, years of working experience in the field, letters of recommendation, and an essay describing an area of expertise. Congratulations, Win!

July 19, 2016

Wildlands’ stream mitigation project reaches the “close-out” milestone

Wildlands is thrilled to announce that our Scaly Bark Creek Mitigation Project has received approval for close-out from the Interagency Review Team. This is Wildlands’ first full-delivery contract with the North Carolina Division of Mitigation Services to reach the close-out milestone, a seven-year achievement. This project consisted of 4,875 linear feet (LF) of stream restoration, 3,596 LF of stream enhancement level II, and 700 LF of stream preservation. As a result of these successful efforts, this project delivered 6,453 stream mitigation units to the North Carolina Division of Mitigation Services. CLICK HERE to learn more about the Scaly Bark Creek Mitigation Project.

stream mitigation, environmental mitigation

June 20, 2016

Henry Fork Construction is Complete

Wildlands is pleased to announce that construction has been completed on Henry Fork Stream and Wetland Mitigation Full-Delivery Project. Located in Catawba County, NC, this project is expected to deliver 4,500 stream mitigation units and 4.0 wetland mitigation units at closeout. As a value-added benefit of the project, Wildlands also acquired the entire 50-acre parcel and included this area within the established permanent conservation easement, establishing a permanent 100-foot buffer on the Henry Fork River and with the vision of a more holistic bottomland wetland forest ecosystem restoration. The mitigation activities removed four golf course ponds, along with reestablishing step-pool channel in the upper tributaries and meandering stream-wetland complex channels where streams enter the floodplain of the larger river.

April 22, 2016

Wildlands conducted final public meeting for Little Lick Creek Watershed Improvement Plan

On April 21st, the Wildlands team conducted the third and final public meeting for the Little Lick Creek Watershed Improvement Plan for the City of Durham. CLICK HERE to learn more about this watershed improvement plan.

April 19, 2016

Wildlands’ announces new nutrient offset and buffer mitigation bank: North Fork Little River

Wildlands is pleased to announce that we are in the process of opening up our North Fork Little River Nutrient Offset and Buffer Mitigation Bank. This bank is located in the Upper Falls Watershed of the Neuse River Basin (8-digit USGS HUC 03020201) near Bahama, in Durham County.

The purposes of the Bank are to:

Provide riparian buffer mitigation credits to compensate for unavoidable buffer impacts in the Neuse River Basin.

Provide nutrient offset credits for stormwater requirements with new and existing development requiring nitrogen and phosphorous offsets within the Falls Lake Watershed.

CLICK HERE to read the Bank’s public notice posted on the NC Department of Environmental Quality website.

February 2, 2016

Construction is Complete on Cannon Creek

Wildlands is pleased to announce that construction has been completed on our first turn-key mitigation project, Cannon Creek Full-Delivery Project, in South Carolina. CLICK HERE to learn more about this project, which restored 4,764 linear feet of Cannon Creek and its tributaries.