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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: September 2, 2003 <br />Action Agen~l~ <br />Item No. ((~~ <br />SUBJECT: Stillhouse Creek Wetlands Restoration Project <br />DEPARTMENT: ERCD, NRCS/Soil and Water PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />District <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />1) Timeline of Activities <br />2) Draft (sample) Conservation Easement <br />3) Map of Project Area <br />4) Before/After Graphic and Picture <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />David Stancil, ERC Director, 245-2590 <br />Brent Bogue, District Conservationist, 245-2750 <br />TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br />Hillsborough 732-8181 <br />Chapel Hill 968-4501 <br />Durham 688-7331 <br />Mebane 336-227-2031 <br />PURPOSE: To receive a presentation on the Stillhouse Creek Stream and Wetlands <br />Restoration Project, a joint venture of Orange County, the N.C. Wetlands Restoration <br />Program (Division of Environment and Natural Resources) and the U.S. Natural Resource <br />Conservation Service (NRCS) /Orange Soil and Water District. <br />BACKGROUND: In June, 2001, the Board adopted a resolution agreeing to a joint stream <br />restoration project for Stillhouse Creek in Hillsborough. Stillhouse Creek is a tributary of the <br />Eno River that runs through the County governmental campus in downtown Hillsborough. <br />This project would restore the stream and wetlands vegetation from Margaret Lane (near the <br />Government Services Center) to the Eno River. Substantial erosion has occurred along this <br />segment of the stream in the past 20 years, and this project is needed to restore streamside <br />vegetation and minimize future erosion along the stream segment. <br />The project will be paid for by the N.C. Division of Water Quality (DWQ) Wetlands <br />Restoration Program, and will be managed by DWQ in conjunction with NRCS and the <br />Orange Soil and Water District. The delay in activity in the project was due to State budget <br />complications and personnel changes at DWQ. <br />A staff work group has met on several occasions in the last several months to move the <br />project forward. Activities to restore the stream are planned to occur in the fall of this year, <br />with new plantings and installation completed in the winter. The plantings will be all native <br />species, with some re-routing of the stream planned to decrease erosion and new offset <br />"wetland pools" created to enhance aquatic life habitat (please see attached graphic). Three <br />