Making Connections Maximizes Watershed Restoration Project
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Breakout Session Slides Making Connections Maximizes Watershed Restoration Project – Lynn Pilewski and Kirsten Robertson will discuss how one group assembled a wide array of non-profit, governmental, and private companies to work together to fund and implement a multi-faceted watershed plan in South Carolina. Monday, February 12, 3:05 - 3:30 p.m.
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Making Connections Maximizes Watershed Restoration Project
- 2. PRESENTER Kirsten Robertson, P.E. Engineer/ Manager
- 7. RECREATION •
- 8. LOSSOF LAND
- 10. THE TEAM!
- 11. Save Our Saluda Trees Upstate NaturalandTrust Trout Unlimited Upstate Forever NON- PROFITS
- 12. Easley Combined Utilities ReWa MetroConnects Duke Energy SC RuralWater Association MUNICIPALITIES
- 13. NRCS Greenville SWCD Pickens SWCD Greenville County Pickens County SC Department of Natural Resources GOVERNMENT
- 14. SC Department of Health and Environmental Control EPA US Army Corps of Engineers County Floodplain Administrators REGULATORY
- 15. Clemson Extension Furman University UNIVERSITIES
- 17. BOUGHT EQUIPMENT
- 18. HOSTED WORKSHOPS We hosted multiple workshops on: • Soil Health, • Practical use of crimpers and planters and • Streambank stabilization
- 23. CHALLENGES • Farmers! • Regulatory Agencies • Bureacracy • Weather • Farmers!
- 24. ITONLYTOOK ONE PERSON And a WHOLE lot of partners!!!
Editor's Notes
- None of this would have happened without the unwavering passion of a woman named Melanie Ruhlman, coupled with a whole lot of helpers. Melanie’s greatest strength is her tenacity. She pushed and pushed and pushed and made this whole thing happen. Melanie lives on the North Saluda River, and is an avid kayaker. She witnessed the changes in the river behind her house daily, and the shape of the river infuriated her.
- What was the big deal? Sediment! This is a picture of the confluence of the North Saluda River and the Saluda River after a storm. Remember the North Saluda is where Melanie lives. Nobody wants to play in that mudflow!
- Not only is sediment no fun for recreation, it…
- These are drone shots of the upper area of Saluda Lake taken during the September 2020 drawdown showing the degree of sedimentation Inflow from the Saluda River is shown in the lower left The ECU drinking water intake is shown in the background downstream
- This is Melanie’s son standing on the banks of a tributary to the North Saluda. These tribs are feeding what used to be trout streams. The streams are so degraded now that they are no longer good habitat.
- Farmers were losing land at an alarming rate. This farm is below a new development at the top of a mountain. The changes in the hydrology of the watershed have devastated farmers fields and cause extreme erosion. Note that the side of the stream without the buffer is where the river was able to carve a new path. A thorough watershed study revealed that most of the sediment in the river was coming from farmer fields and bank erosion. A multipronged strategy was devised to remedy this.
- Melanie made a long list of people who might care about the problem. As she moved forward, she got momentum and more entities jumped on board.
- There are at least 21 entities on this list. I’ll go over the Non-profits, municipalities, government, regulatory and university players on the team next.
- Save Our Saluda acted as home base. Melanie is the president and it has maybe 40 members now Trees Upstate is a nonprofit solely formed to plant trees for free in the Upstate of SC. They contributed all of the trees for the riparian buffers and wrangled ALL of the volunteers Naturaland Trust donated land in a floodplain for demonstration sites Trout Unlimited was involved because some of these rivers are trout habitat Upstate Forever helped with connections and lobbying.
- Easley Combined Utilities had the biggest stake in the project. In 2012 they spent more than $8M dredging 366,000 cubic yards of sediment. It’s already filled in. There are two sewer systems listed. They care because sediment carries phosphorus. The less phosphorus in a river, the longer they are able to delay upgrading their systems. They even got the local water associations involved.
- NRCS worked with farmers and provided EQIP money. EQIP doesn’t pay enough for most farmers to participate, so Melanie used 319 funds to supplement. We’ll talk more about this in a minute. NRCS engineers have a tremendous backload. GCSWCD happens to have a Professional Engineer on staff. GCSWCD provided streambank design Pickens County rallied their farmers to participate and helped lobby legislators for more money Greenville County paid for the Floodplain Permits. The list goes on and on
- Interesting story was that our State regulatory agency would not work with NRCS. They didn’t feel that Melanie could use NRCS funds to match the EPA’s 319 funds because they are both Federal. Other states were doing it, so Melanie went up to the highest eschelon of DHEC and when they dug their heels in, she went to EPA. EPA told them they could combine funding and spoke to DHEC about it. This is what made it happen.
- Clemson University helped with technical advice and Furman helped with studying the water quality changes.
- Let’s talk about what we did!
- A no-till drill and roller crimper were purchase for demonstrations. This equipment was given to the Greenville SWCD to be able to rent it to local farmers. This is the first equipment of this kind that the District has owned.
- One Soil Health and Cover Crop workshop was geared toward Hispanic farmers and a translator was available. The Five Farmer Scientists – Experimenting with Cover Crops to Improve Soil Health is now available with Spanish subtitles. Workshop included the soil slake test to compare the stability of soil aggregates. Another workshop we provided a Rainfall Simulator demonstration with a simulator manned by the SCFGLC.
- Use of a floodplain under conservation easement in the watershed was donated by the owner for demonstrations of best practices for farmers!
- There is a strong demand for stream restoration in the Upper Saluda Watershed; however the work requires professional expertise, is expensive ($250-1,000+ per linear foot) and is cost prohibitive for most landowners. Funding came from EQIP, 319, GCSWCD, Trees Upstate, and Greenville County
- Cover crops are a cost-effective priority BMP for soil Conservation Benefits of cover crops include soil conservation, soil building, weed suppression, nitrogen building and decreased need for chemical inputs The 319 funding paid a 90% match to farmers who would plant cover crops.
- Farmers! Remember when I said that Melanie’s greatest strength was her tenacity? As an outsider in an area of the County called the Dark Corner, the farmers were VERY suspicious. Frankly I didn’t think she could do it. She just kept working at it and didn’t give up. She now has several farmers who are participating in her programs I mentioned the regulatory reticence with DHEC to use 319 funds to match NRCS funds. Nothing would have gone forward if she hadn’t gone to the ends of the earth to make it happen. NRCS couldn’t meet the timelines for engineered projects so we made it work by having an engineer with the SWCD do the design and having the NRCS engineer sign off on it. Some of the biggest storms have happened during this project. The cover crops have been washed away and replanted and washed away again A couple of farmers have gone back in and changed things later to suit themselves, to the detriment of the water quality.
- Melanie is applying for an NRCS RCPP grant for the watershed. She has obtained a sponsor on the State legislature Ways and Means committee and has a verbal agreement that the matching $3M will be in the next State budget.
- doorprizes, etc