Waterway debris removal presents environmental challenge

Hurricane Helene caused extensive damage to creeks and rivers in Burke County and the rest of western North Carolina.

Now, the challenge is to remove organic debris without making things even worse, something environmental groups say is happening in areas west of here.

In some places, the Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors have taken away too much woody debris — an essential component of the ecosystem.

As Burke County prepares to embark on that phase of the recovery, Catawba Riverkeeper’s Western Basin Director Grant Buckner said following one simple concept could make all the difference.

“I’d like to see the mindset not of taking all we can, but leaving all we can,” Buckner said.

Taking a break in the sunshine from a long morning spent in a darkened lab peering into a microscope and gathering data on aquatic insects, Buckner explained the importance of leaving an adequate amount of wood in the water.

“Our rivers really rely on wood for fish habitat, for providing structure for primary producers that really make our streams alive,” Buckner said. “You know, all of the insects I was just looking at depend on leaves. They depend on woody debris in the river.

“And we’ve seen concerns from across the entire footprint of Helene in North Carolina, about how that (removal) is being done.”

In Burke County, the plan is for crews to remove all the debris 1,000 feet upstream and downstream of public infrastructure like bridges and water intakes.

“It’s not simply taking debris out of the waterway,” Burke County Manager Brian Epley said. “It’s debris that could be hazardous in future events to public infrastructure and public safety.”

Buckner said the county’s strategy shouldn’t have a negative effect on the biology of the waterway as long as workers leave enough wood in other areas.

“If it’s (wood) piled around bridges and other infrastructure, it needs to be removed, to alleviate those concerns for our infrastructure. But if it doesn’t pose a threat to infrastructure, leave it,” Buckner said. “The last good bit of research coming out is about how good wood is for streams.”

It’s not clear yet who will be in charge of the work in Burke County.

In March, the county board of commissioners agreed to bring in the Army Corps of Engineers. The project is expected to cost just less than $900,000, but the federal government reimburses counties for work done by the Army.

But a lack of action and communication from the corps — despite repeated requests for information from the county — has prompted Burke to look elsewhere.

Epley said his staff is currently pursuing the state’s NCSmart program as an option. The program would replace federal funding with state funding for the project. As of Wednesday, no agreement was in place.

One advantage of utilizing the state program would be increased local control. Buckner said that would be a good thing.

“If the county can increase its oversight on how debris is removed, I don’t see that as a negative,” he said.

When the task finally begins, there will be other considerations besides pulling out vegetative material that has fallen into the waterways.

Buckner also advised against cutting too many leaning trees along the banks. Flooding and high winds from the storm scraped away enormous amounts of streamside vegetation, which is necessary to reduce erosion and contamination from runoff.

If live trees are cut, he said it’s often important to leave the stumps in place as a deterrent to erosion.

In addition to their concerns about wood debris removal, conservation nonprofits like Conserving Carolina have pointed out how operating heavy equipment across long stretches of streambeds damages aquatic habitats.

Buckner said some sites that are closely monitored by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) because of the presence of rare or threatened species have been negatively impacted by machinery.

“When you’ve got a county that might have 500, 600 sites that they submit and the contractors can drive up and down the streams 1,000 feet from those areas to collect debris, that can have a really detrimental impact on the river,” he said.

But none of that should happen if contractors follow the rules.

Both the NCWRC and the Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) have issued guidelines on how debris should be removed from streams.

“They’ve got their rules, they’ve got their guidelines,” Buckner said. “I think if they follow those, that would be good. And we’ve seen cases where they are following those and it is done correctly, but all of our partner organizations that we work with, and other watersheds have the same concerns.”