Ecosystem Enhancement Program

EEP featured in DENR Screen Show

Tad Boggs — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 15:28:31 GMT

The Ecosystem Enhancement Program's core functions are featured in a new screen show in the lobby of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources building lobby.

The slides, part of an educational exhibition spotlighting DENR divisions and programs, highlight EEP's focus on local watershed planning, outsourcing green jobs, stream and wetland restoration projects and preservation of more than 50,000 acres of natural areas across the state (click on links above to view slides).

The slides, which appear in a continuous rotation for seven seconds each, feature photographs by EEP staff and design by DENR's Creative Services office.

Grant fuels goals of F-to-F partnership

Tad Boggs — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:41:47 GMT

An N.C. Division of Water Quality 319 grant for water-quality improvements in the Little Tennessee River basin will keep advancing the goals of the Franklin-to-Fontana Restoration Partnership, a collaboration that includes the Ecosystem Enhancement Program.

An article on the grant award and the partnership's objectives appeared this month in the Franklin Press. The $214,195 grant went to the Southwestern N.C. Resource Conservation and Development Council on behalf of parternship members consisting of EEP, the Macon County Soil & Water Conservation District, the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee, the Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research Program, the N.C. Natural Heritage Program and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Over time, the partnership has received more than $690,000 in funding for monitoring and project implementation in the Franklin-to-Fontana Local Watershed Plan area, which includes 154 square miles and five hydrologic units. EEP has implemented two restoration projects in the Franklin-to Fontana-LWP area totaling more than two miles of stream restoration and enhancement and 12 acres of wetland restoration and enhancement. In addition, the Needmore Tract, a High Quality Preservation project implemented by EEP in the LWP area totals 4,467 acres and encompasses 63 miles of stream.

The latest grant focuses on improvements to water quality in three Little Tennessee tributaries by combatting sedimentation, buffer degradation, stream channlization and livestock access to the waterways and to carry out a five-part local watershed education program. Best management practices to alleviate the problems will be funded through the grant, which will provide local landowners with a favorable cost-share arrangement to implement steps such as livestock fencing and alternativer watering sources and restoring buffers.

The Franklin-to-Fontana partners will be meeting periodically in the coming months to continue the momentum in implementing key recommendations of the Watershed Management Plan. For additional information about this LWP effort, contact Hal Bryson (western planner) at 828-450-9408 or via email at hal.bryson@ncdenr.gov.

Project launching in Mecklenburg preserve

Tad Boggs — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:01:43 GMT

Work is expected to begin this month on a stream and wetland restoration project located in a Mecklenburg County nature preserve.

The Unnamed Tributary (UT) to Clarks Creek stream- and wetland-restoration project consists of approximately 3,100 linear feet of enhancement and will preserve approximately 1,464 linear feet of stream using natural channel design procedures. This restoration effort will consist of returning the appropriate dimension, pattern and profile to the degraded stream.

The work will include grading, installation of stabilization and habitat structures; replanting adjacent streambanks and riparian zones using native species appropriate to the area; and practicing and maintaining proper sediment and erosion control. The project will also include preserving and enhancing approximately 1.5 acres of wetlands.

Project construction is anticipated to take approximately 70 days.