Little Hunting Creek Watershed Assessment and Restoration Concept Report Frederick County, Maryland
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Little Hunting Creek Watershed Assessment and Restoration Concept Report Frederick County, Maryland Prepared for: Frederick County Community Development Division Office of Sustainability & Environmental Resources 30 North Market Street Frederick, MD 21701 Prepared by: EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC 225 Schilling Circle Suite 400 Hunt Valley, Maryland 21031 (410) 584-7000 April 2016 EA Project No. 6279401 Page intentionally left blank EA Project No.: 6279401 Page i EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC April 2016 CONTENTS Page LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................................................. i LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ ii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................... iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................1 1. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................2 1.1 PURPOSE OF STUDY.................................................................................................... 2 1.2 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................... 3 2. PRELIMINARY SITE ASSESSMENT ....................................................................................4 2.1 DESKTOP ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................. 5 2.2 INITIAL FIELD ASSESSMENT .................................................................................. 12 2.3 WORKSHOP WITH COUNTY STAFF ....................................................................... 16 2.4 FLUVIAL GEOMORPHIC ASSESSMENT ................................................................ 16 3. DEVELOPMENT OF RESTORATION STRATEGY ...........................................................19 4. PREDICTING POLLUTANT LOAD REDUCTIONS ...........................................................20 4.1 APPROACH .................................................................................................................. 20 4.2 COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS ....................................................................................... 24 5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................26 6. DETAILED ANALYSISJECT FEASIBILITY CONCEPTS .................................................26 6.1 PROJECT 1 .................................................................................................................... 27 6.2 PROJECT 2 .................................................................................................................... 35 6.3 PROJECT 3 .................................................................................................................... 42 6.4 PROJECT 4 .................................................................................................................... 50 6.5 PROJECT 5 .................................................................................................................... 57 LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX A: TYPICAL STRUCTURES Little Hunting Creek Watershed Assessment and Restoration Concept Report EA Project No.: 6279401 Page ii EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC April 2016 LIST OF FIGURES Number Title 1 Project Location Map 2 Little Hunting Creek Watershed Map 3 Areas of Interest Map 4 Project Sites Ranking Map 5 Top Project Sites Little Hunting Creek Watershed Assessment and Restoration Concept Report EA Project No.: 6279401 Page iii EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC April 2016 LIST OF TABLES Number Title 1 Site Information 2 Priority Ranking of the Sites 3 Summary of Fluvial Geomorphological Assessment 4 List of Priority Projects 5 Potential BMP projects at priority sites 6 Project 1- Pollutant Load Reductions and Impervious Acre Treatment Credits 7 Project 2- Pollutant Load Reductions and Impervious Acre Treatment Credits 8 Project 3- Pollutant Load Reductions and Impervious Acre Treatment Credits 9 Project 4- Pollutant Load Reductions and Impervious Acre Treatment Credits 10 Project 5- Pollutant Load Reductions and Impervious Acre Treatment Credits 11 Cost Estimation 12 Total Cost versus Pollutant Load Reductions and Impervious Acre Treatment Credits 13 Project 1- Property Ownership Information 14 Project 2- Property Ownership Information 15 Project 3- Property Ownership Information 16 Project 4- Property Ownership Information 17 Project 5- Property Ownership Information Little Hunting Creek Watershed Assessment and Restoration Concept Report EA Project No.: 6279401 Page iv EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC April 2016 LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AOI Areas of Interest ac. Acres BMP Best Management Practice CBP Chesapeake Bay Program EA EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC ESD Environmental Site Design etc et cetera e.g. for example ft. Foot or Feet GIS Geographic Information System Inc. Incorporated LF Linear Foot or Linear Feet Lbs Pounds MD Maryland MDE Maryland Department of the Environment MERLIN Maryland’s Environmental Resources and Land Information Network mm Millimeter(s) NAD North American Datum N/A Not Applicable No. Number PBC Public Benefit Corporation PVC Polyvinyl Chloride ROW Right of Way RR Runoff Reduction SR State Route ST Storm Water Treatment SPSC Step Pool Stormwater Conveyance Sq. ft. Square Foot or Square Feet TSS Total Suspended Solids TP Total Phosphorous Little Hunting Creek Watershed Assessment and Restoration Concept Report EA Project No.: 6279401 Page v EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC April 2016 TN Total Nitrogen WARSSS Watershed Assessment of River Stability and Sediment Supply Yr Year Little Hunting Creek Watershed Assessment and Restoration Concept Report EA Project No.: 6279401 Page 1 EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC April 2016 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC (EA) conducted an assessment of the Little Hunting Creek Watershed, located in Frederick County near Thurmont, Maryland in an effort to develop specific stream and watershed restoration actions. The results of this assessment were used to compare and rank each site or sub-watershed area, and to prioritize the areas that would benefit most from watershed/stream restoration efforts to achieve measurable water quality improvements and pollutant and sediment load reductions. A desktop review of available GIS layers and online resources was performed in order to locate areas for potential stream improvements. A total of thirty (30) areas of interest (AOI) were identified as potential locations for in-stream improvements, upland Best Management Practices (BMP), or structural retrofits. An initial field assessment of each of the 30 sites was conducted in order to field truth the findings of the desktop review and rank each site based on restoration potential. The field assessment was used to identify five priority projects for a more detailed assessment. EA team members performed geomorphological assessments on September 15, 16, 18, 21 and 22 at the top priority sites. Cross section, profile and pebble count data were collected, as applicable at the stream sites. Out of nine study sites, eight of the sites contained stream channels. Sites FD06, FD21, FD22 and FD24 are within Little Hunting Creek, sites FD19 and FD23 are un- named tributaries to Little Hunting Creek, sites FD28 and FD30 are un-named tributaries to Big Hunting Creek, and site FD29 is identified as an inline pond in between sites FD28 and FD30. Based on the information obtained during the detailed site assessments, EA developed potential projects based on multiple factors, including the prioritization of specific study sites based on identified impairments of concern for the watershed, feasibility of implementation, and the potential for ecological and biological uplift of the watershed. Through the field assessment of the nine sites, EA developed 5 potential restoration projects. For each of the five proposed restoration concept sites, EA performed an assessment of pollutant load reductions, impervious surface treatment area, and a cost estimate in order to determine a cost benefit analysis of each of the projects. Based on this assessment EA identified two projects that would provide a greater benefit with a lower cost and should be considered as the top two priority projects for future consideration. Little Hunting Creek Watershed Assessment and Restoration Concept Report EA Project No.: 6279401 Page 2 EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC April 2016 1. INTRODUCTION The Frederick County Planning and Permit, Office of Sustainability and Environmental Resources has contracted EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC (EA) to conduct an assessment of the Little Hunting Creek watershed, located in Frederick County near Thurmont, Maryland (Appendix A: Figure 1). Located in the northwestern part of Frederick County, Little Hunting Creek flows west to east beginning in the Catoctin Mountains west of Cunningham Falls State Park. The Little Hunting Creek watershed is primarily