Back Creek Watershed Protection Plan West Virginia and Virginia June 13th, 2014 Submitted to: 151 Aikens Center, Suite 1 Martinsburg, WV 25404 Prepared By: P.O. Box 106 Thomas, WV 26292 "Investing in Clean Water for a Healthy Life" June 13th, 2014 CONTENTS ACRONYMS & ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Purpose of Report ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Area of Interest ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Berkeley County Comprehensive Plan ...................................................................................................... 6 Current Water Data Inventory .................................................................................................................. 6 GIS ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................................. 7 Forest Parcel Preservation Prioritization .................................................................................................. 7 Land Use Analysis ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Aquatic Habitat Preservation Prioritization: ............................................................................................. 8 SOURCES OF POINT SOURCE POLLUTION ..................................................................................................... 8 SOURCES OF NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION ............................................................................................. 9 Streambank Erosion & Sediment .............................................................................................................. 9 Littering ................................................................................................................................................... 10 Fecal Coliform ......................................................................................................................................... 10 Roads, Bridges, Recreational Vehicles .................................................................................................... 10 Impervious and Developed Areas ........................................................................................................... 11 Agriculture .............................................................................................................................................. 12 Residual Arsenic Pesticides ..................................................................................................................... 12 LOAD REDUCTIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 12 RECOMMENDED MANAGEMENT MEASURES ............................................................................................. 13 Preservation & Conservation .................................................................................................................. 13 Planned and Low Impact Development .................................................................................................. 14 Agriculture .............................................................................................................................................. 17 Erosion .................................................................................................................................................... 19 IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE AND TIMELINE ........................................................................................... 20 MONITORING .............................................................................................................................................. 23 OUTREACH AND EDUCATION ...................................................................................................................... 25 TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES ................................................................................................... 26 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................................. 28 FIGURES ....................................................................................................................................................... 29 TABLES ......................................................................................................................................................... 49 Back Creek Watershed Protection Plan--FINAL 2 June 13th, 2014 PHOTOGRAPHS ........................................................................................................................................... 65 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 70 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................................................ 72 WV DEP Fecal Coliform Monitoring and Decision Rationale .................................................................. 72 WV Division of Forestry GIS Approach and Rationale ............................................................................ 73 Green Rivers GIS Approach and Rationale: ............................................................................................. 76 Stakeholder Meeting Attendees and Notes ........................................................................................... 80 RESUMES ..................................................................................................................................................... 83 ACRONYMS & ABBREVIATIONS AOI Area of Interest ATV All-Terrain Vehicle BHEN Blue Heron Environmental Network BMP Best Management Practice CFS Cubic Feet per Second EPA US Environmental Protection Agency EPCD Eastern Panhandle Conservation District FFA Future Farmers of America FSA Farm Service Agency GPS Global Positioning System GIS Geographic Information System LULC Land Use Land Cover NRCS Natural Resources Conservation Service NSD Natural Stream Design ROW Right of Way RTES Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Species TEAM The Easy Assessment Method USACE U.S. Army Corps of Engineers USDA United States Department of Agriculture USGS United States Geological Survey UNT Un-named Tributary VADEQ Virginia Department of Environmental Quality WMA Wildlife Management Area WVCA West Virginia Conservation Agency WVDA West Virginia Department of Agriculture WVDOF West Virginia Division of Forestry WVDOH West Virginia Division of Highways WVDEP West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection WVDNR West Virginia Division of Natural Resources WWTP Waste Water Treatment Plant Back Creek Watershed Protection Plan--FINAL 3 June 13th, 2014 INTRODUCTION Purpose of Report This Back Creek Watershed Protection Plan is a framework for stakeholders to become more familiar with the water quality issues within the Back Creek Watershed. It is a starting point to focus restoration efforts and enable financial and technical assistance to facilitate improvement strategies and restoration projects in the Back Creek Watershed. This plan is designed to be an evolving document and can be modified to include new data as it becomes available. This restoration process should be assisted by relevant state and local governmental agencies. This document can be utilized by state agencies or stakeholders to secure funding to implement solutions and protect key conservation areas. Public outreach efforts can be recommended by identifying key water quality issues and their causes. Local Best Management Practices (BMPs) as well as direct aquatic restoration efforts will help the local water resources. This Plan will address concerns related to overall watershed health. The results will identify critical resources to protect (e.g. high- priority forested lands), potential sites to restore (e.g. severely eroding streambanks). This plan will also recommend conceptual solutions, an implementation framework, cost estimates, and a method for evaluation. The report focuses on the following watershed elements and data: The unique forested nature of the watershed and the threatened and endangered species that depend on the water resources of this valley, such as the federally endangered plant harperella (Ptilimnium nodosum), wood turtle, eastern cricket frog, green floater mussel, and recently noted freshwater sponge (not yet identified) (WVDNR Natural Heritage Program, 2012; Villella and Nelson, 2008). WV Save Our Streams field data gathered by BHEN (WVSOS, 1998-2012). Water quality data collected by WVDEP Watershed Assessment Branch and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Two workshops facilitated by Green Rivers, LLC in order to gather valuable stakeholder input. Forestry prioritization maps generated by the WVDOF (Peddicord and Harouff, 2012). A stream assessment conducted by WVDEP identifying and prioritizing streambank and riparian