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Af� 32 <br /> Land Use Data and Existing Development Retrofits <br /> A primary input to watershed models is land use data. The <br /> Falls Lake watershed is comprised predominately of Opportunities to reduce nutrient <br /> unmanaged lands (75 percent, Figure 6). Unmanaged loading from natural areas are <br /> lands represent natural areas or areas where former land very limited. <br /> management activities are no longer occurring(unmanaged <br /> grass/shrub areas). Opportunities to reduce nutrient <br /> loading from natural areas are very limited. <br /> Less than 10 percent of the watershed is used <br /> DOT,3% <br /> for agriculture, which has declined nearly Agriculture,9% <br /> 45 percent from the baseline year. This <br /> decline in production has reduced nutrient <br /> loading to the lake. The NC Department of Urban,13%_ <br /> AP-riculture and Consumer Services F Forest,59% <br /> (NCDA&CS) indicates that there are few Open Water,4%- <br /> additional actions that can be taken in the Wetland,2%� <br /> watershed to further reduce nutrient loading <br /> Unmanaged <br /> from active farmland. Most of the streams in grass/shrub,10% <br /> the watershed are buffered, conservation <br /> tillage is commonly used, and nutrient 75 percent ofthe watershed area is in unmanaged land uses:forests,grassland, <br /> management plans and the high cost of shrubland,wetlands,or open water. <br /> fertilizer have lowered the amounts of fertilizer Figure 6.Distribution of Land Uses in the 492 thousand-acre Falls <br /> applied. These limited opportunities for Lake Watershed(2014 to 2018) <br /> additional reductions from agriculture are important to consider in the development of a revised <br /> management strategy. <br /> Approximately 13 percent of the land is classified as developed, most of which is low intensity and <br /> non-DOT road rights of way. There are areas in the watershed like the City of Durham and central <br /> municipal areas in the smaller cities and towns where development is represented by more intensive <br /> "downtown" impervious land use, but this area is a small subset of the 13 percent classified as <br /> urban. In areas that are already densely developed, installation of engineered stormwater control <br /> measures (SCMs) is limited due to existing legal, logistical, technological, and economic constraints. <br /> Depending on soil conditions and other <br /> constraints,the application of some green Fails Basle r-Hive, a;K,�,&G, WM Fa,,,L,Na 0m 1, <br /> infrastructure (including rain gardens and <br /> • F�a,� a, a ��„Nc.� z <br /> similar approaches) is possible with the <br /> cooperation of private property owners. The <br /> UNRBA's IAIA program encourages these type <br /> projects, but nutrient loading reductions are <br /> modest. Overall, the opportunity for SCM <br /> retrofits on these areas is extremely limited. <br /> Even if there were a high level of funding " 1�.L <br /> GtteCickC,eek <br /> available, private ownership and logistic �• /� , ' <br /> difficulties may not allow retrofits to occur on <br /> most developed sites. The NC General w "«'r°,kC.e� <br /> Assembly has prohibited the use of local ®rdan Basin ftmm8t[Kek <br /> government eminent domain to condemn x ° A . <br /> Figure 7. Citit <br /> y of Durham Existing Development Retrofits as of <br /> property for control of stormwater impacts. December 2015 <br /> 13 <br />