Hog Lot Branch & Bates Branch Stream Restoration Project

Bates Branch post-restoration with instream structures to stabilize streambanks and new riparian buffer.

Post Construction

Bates Branch post-restoration with instream structures to stabilize streambanks and new riparian buffer.

Morgan Harris, Working Lands for Wildlife Eastern Hellbender Initiative, and the Conservation Management Institute at Virginia Tech, surveys Bates Branch for hellbenders and hellbender habitat.

River Survey

Morgan Harris, Working Lands for Wildlife Eastern Hellbender Initiative, and the Conservation Management Institute at Virginia Tech, surveys Bates Branch for hellbenders and hellbender habitat.

Jason York, Michael Baker International, performs a macroinvertebrate assessment as part of the design assessment process.

Macroinvertebrate Assessment

Jason York, Michael Baker International, performs a macroinvertebrate assessment as part of the design assessment process.

Prior to restoration, Bates Branch & Hog Lot Branch had high, unstable streambanks that were severely eroding.

Pre-Construction

Prior to restoration, Bates Branch & Hog Lot Branch had high, unstable streambanks that were severely eroding.

Hog lot Branch & Bates Branch

Tributary of Little Tennessee
Macon County, Franklin, NC
Status: Complete
Stream Restored: ~1,250 feet

Partners:

Resource Concern/Issues:

Hog Lot Branch and Bates Branch are headwater streams that suffered from critical erosion and incised streambanks. The streambanks were steep, severely eroded, and unstable. Both streams lacked a riparian buffer. Also, hellbenders, a species of concern, were sighted in Bates Branch in 2003.

Project Objectives:

  • Improve water quality by reducing sediment, organic, and inorganic loading of the stream and reduce streambank erosion

  • Stabilize the stream reach to prevent further aggradation or degradation by providing an improved dimension, pattern and/or profile that will improve sediment transport, and manage surface waters and groundwater levels in floodplains, riparian areas, and wetlands

  • Construct rock and woody structures to provide instream habitat, stabilize streambanks and the channel bed

  • Establish a riparian buffer, remove invasive plant species and reestablish native plants, trees, and shrubs

  • Remove barriers to provide an opportunity for the aquatic organisms to access additional habitat and migrate up and downstream

  • Install structures to create or enhance hellbender habitat

  • Establish a riparian buffer, remove invasive plant species and reestablish native plants, trees, and shrubs