Section 5 Watershed Assets

Section 5 Watershed Assets

Table 13 below identifies the sensitive mussel species within Goose and Crooked Creek watersheds.

Table 13. Sensitive Mussel Species in the Goose Creek and Crooked Creek Watersheds

Scientific Name	Common Name	Watershed(s)	Status
Lasmigona decorata	Carolina heelsplitter	Goose Creek	Endangered – federal and state
Villosa vaughaniana	Carolina creekshell	Goose and Crooked Creeks	Federal species of concern and state endangered
Fusconaia masoni	Atlantic pigtoe	Goose Creek	Federal species of concern and state endangered
Toxolasma pullus	Savannah lilliput	Crooked Creek	Federal species of concern and state endangered
Strophitus undulatus	Creeper	Goose Creek	Threatened - state
Villosa constricta	Notched rainbow	Goose Creek	Special concern -state
Villosa delumbris	Eastern creekshell	Goose and Crooked Creeks	Significantly rare - state

Tetra Tech, 2008

The North Carolina Natural Heritage Program (NHP) supports conservation of the rarest and the most outstanding elements of the natural diversity of our state. These elements of natural diversity include those plants and animals which are so rare or the natural communities which are so significant that they merit special consideration as land-use decisions are made. According to the NHP a Significant Natural Heritage Area (SNHA) is an area of land or water identified by the NHP as being important for conservation of the State's biodiversity.  SNHAs contain one or more Natural Heritage Elements which are high-quality or rare natural communities, rare species, and special animal habitats. (NCDENR, 2012b) There have been several Natural Heritage Element Occurrences (NHEO) observations within these watersheds; many are identified as one of the above mentioned mussel species but also there have been sensitive aquatic plant species observed including Indian Physic (Gillenia stipulate), Piedmont Aster (Eurybia mirabilis) and Virginia Quillwort (Isoetes virginica). In addition to the NHEOs there are some areas within these watersheds that are also identified by the North Carolina Heritage Program as unique SNHAs. The North Fork Crooked Creek Sunflower site, Goose and Duck Creek Aquatic habitat and also the Crooked Creek Aquatic Habitat which support the various sensitive species are all included as SNHAs.

The Phase I Preliminary Findings report that Tetra Tech developed included an assessment of preservation opportunities within these watersheds and serves as the foundation for this section. In addition, the discussion in Section 4 is also useful as it not only identified the areas within these watersheds that are the most impacted but also resulted in identify highly functioning subwatersheds. In order to determine areas to prioritize for preservation, information from these two sources was layered to highlight subwatersheds that have fewer impacts from stressors and that also have significant amounts of existing natural areas.

In the Preliminary Findings report land cover data from Southeast Gap Analysis Program (SEGAP) was utilized to show land cover distribution throughout these watersheds. This distribution provides an indication of natural area connectivity within each subwatershed. Percent natural area cannot fully measure connectivity, but subwatersheds with a high percentage of natural area are likely to contain more connected natural areas. (Tetra Tech, 2008) Table 14 below identifies the percent of natural areas within these watersheds utilizing SEGAP data.

Table 14. Percent of Land in Natural Area and Other General Land Cover by Subwatershed

The Goose and Crooked Creek watersheds were further evaluated separately in order to identify a similar number of opportunities within each watershed and also to allow for the potentially different nature of preservation projects within these watersheds due to additional protections in place for the Goose Creek watershed.

As previously mention a set of management rules was adopted in February 2009 to protect water quality and habitat for the Carolina heelsplitter in the Goose Creek watershed. In addition to the benefits identified in Section 4, this rule has land protection measures that include riparian buffer management. The riparian buffer requirements for this watershed are as follows:

• 
  Within the 100-year floodplain, undisturbed riparian buffers are required within 200 feet of water bodies, and
  
• 
  Outside the 100-year floodplain, undisturbed riparian buffers are required within 100 feet of water bodies.
  

As noted in Table 14 the total natural area ranges from 14 to 57 percent in the Goose Creek watershed with an average of 40 percent. The subwatersheds with a minimum of the 40 percent average were considered for prioritization and further evaluation and are highlighted in yellow in Table 14. When these subwatersheds are compared to the subwatersheds identified as priority problem areas in Section 4 there are three that overlap (highlighted in green). According to the land use/land cover data presented in the Preliminary Findings, DC5 is located in the developing headwaters portion of the Goose Creek watershed with about 20 percent in residential use and another 16 percent in pasture/agricultural use and both GC1 and GC3 contain substantial amounts of pasture/agricultural land with 39 and 48 percent respectively. (Tetra Tech, 2008) Watersheds where a combination of problems and assets exist such as these can benefit greatly from restoration efforts and also have the advantage of building off of the significant existing assets which can provide support to the restoration work through high quality habitat and good water quality. Since these watersheds consist of 40 percent or more of natural area they will remain under consideration for preservation as well as for restoration.

Consideration should also be given to the feasibility of implementing effective preservation projects. Factors to consider at the subwatershed scale relating to feasibility include areas with large parcels to encourage implementing more beneficial preservation projects with fewer numbers of landowners and also areas with approved plans for large scale development such as incoming subdivisions. To this end additional data was considered including an assessment of parcels that are 50 acres or more and also where planned subdivisions are expected in the near term (though this information was available for Union County only). Large parcels are located within each of the prioritized subwatersheds and are identified in Figure 15. Figure 16 below from the Preliminary Findings report also identifies the planned subdivisions for Union County and there are several within subwatersheds proposed for prioritization (GC8, DC4, and DC2 with small patches in GC 7 and GC6). A more thorough look at the implications of the planned subdivisions should be included in Phase III where specific preservation projects are identified.

As noted in Table 14 the total natural area ranges from 15 to 43 percent in the Crooked Creek watershed with an average of 31 percent. Subwatersheds with a minimum of the 31 percent average were considered for prioritization and further evaluation and are highlighted in yellow in Table 14. When these subwatersheds are compared to the subwatersheds identified as priority problem areas in Section 4 there are two that overlap (highlighted in green). According to the land use/land cover data presented in the Preliminary Findings, CC4 and CC5 contain substantial amounts of pasture/agricultural land with 48 and 54 percent respectively. (Tetra Tech, 2008) Watersheds where a combination of problems and assets exist such as these can benefit greatly from restoration efforts and also have the advantage of building off of the significant existing assets which can provide support to the restoration work through high quality habitat and good water quality. Since these watersheds consist of 31 percent or more of natural area they will remain under consideration for preservation as well as for restoration.

Consideration should also be given to the feasibility of implementing effective preservation projects. Factors to consider at the subwatershed scale relating to feasibility include areas with large parcels to encourage implementing more beneficial preservation projects with fewer numbers of landowners and also areas with approved plans for large scale development such as incoming subdivisions. To this end additional data was considered including an assessment of parcels that are 50 acres or more and also where planned subdivisions are expected in the near term (though this information was available for Union County only). Large parcels are located within each of the prioritized subwatersheds and are identified in Figure 15. Figure 16 below from the Preliminary Findings report also identifies the planned subdivisions for Union County and there are several within subwatersheds proposed for prioritization (NF4, NF2 and a small patch in CC4). A more thorough look at the implications of the planned subdivisions should be included in Phase III where specific preservation projects are identified.

The 12 subwatersheds identified as priorities for preservation in the Goose Creek watershed and the 8 subwatersheds identified as priorities for preservation in the Crooked Creek watershed should allow for the focused protection of quality habitat and water quality that supports the sensitive and unique species within them and also prevent further degradation from sources such as imperviousness, construction, stormwater, agriculture and other non-point sources. The subwatersheds identified are often contiguous which will encourage clustering preservation efforts and yet span much of these two watersheds to encompass the wide variety of protection needs within this planning area.