Daniels Farm Wetland Restoration Full Delivery Project

Client: North Carolina Ecosystem Enhancement Program

Location: Louisburg, North Carolina

Services: Environmental planning and design

KCI was awarded a contract in the Spring of 2003 to restore 30 acres or non-riverene wetland in the Tar-Pamlico River Basin that included site location, acquisition, restoration/mitigation plan development, permitting construction, and monitoring.

Evaluations of the historical site photographs verified that the site was forested until 1982, when it was cleared and utilized for agriculture. There is no visible evidence of other mass disturbance such as filling or mining on the site in any of the reviewed photographs. Further analysis including; detailed soils investigations, groundwater modeling, water budget, hydrology and hydraulics, and wildlife habitat were performed to aid in the development of a restoration plan for the site. These analyses showed that the clearing, draining, and conversion of the site to agriculture has altered its natural wetland ecological function and diminished its capacity for natural biological productivity, biogeochemical cycling, nutrient cycling, and water quality enhancement. Under the current conditions, lateral drains, grassed waterways and the ditching have effectively altered the hydrology of the site, decreasing the amount of water available for soil saturation and extended periods of inundation. In its present state, the site is only fulfilling a small proportion of its potential and historical wetland functional role within the landscape.

A Restoration Plan was developed that focused on the removal of hydrologic alterations and reforestation of the site with species common to Low Elevation Seeps and Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Forests. The proposed wetland mitigation activities will result in substantial enhancement of the existing water quality and habitat functions onsite. Elimination of channelized flow from agricultural ditches that drain in two different directions to the Tar River drastically reduced nutrient, pesticide and sediment runoff from the site.

Design plans were developed from the restoration plan and permitted for construction. Construction was initiated in Fall of 2003 and was completed in the Spring of 2004. Currently site monitoring has been initiated and will continue through 2008.






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