Client: Wildlands-owned
Location: Wilkes County, NC

The Critcher Brothers Mitigation Site is a Wildlands Engineering-owned mitigation bank site in North Carolina. The site was designed by Wildlands Engineering and constructed by Wildlands Construction. Approximately 21,000 cool stream credits will be delivered through stream restoration, enhancement, and preservation in a rural area historically used for cattle and agriculture. Wildlands Engineering designed the site and gained IRT approval of the mitigation plan and proposed credits at the site. As part of the design, Wildlands Engineering balanced earthwork across the site by raising the valley floor and excavating new, smaller channels while filling in the old, eroded, over-sized channels. Wildlands Construction mined rock on site to use in habitat structures. Three construction crews worked on the site which included steep A- and B-type step-pool systems as well as meandering C-type streams. Wildlands Construction worked to stabilize and amend soils, using composted chicken litter from the farm. In stream structures included more than 35 rock and log vanes and sills, more than 65 constructed riffles (woody, jazz, chunky, and angled), 360 feet of brush mattress, 2,300 feet of brush toe, 100 feet of rock toe, and 45 feet of geolift. Wildlands Construction also installed a dozen culvert crossings, repaired a failing bridge, and installed nearly 20,000 feet of woven wire fencing to exclude cattle from the riparian easement. Construction was completed in 2021.