Valley River Watershed Restoration Project

The Valley River begins in the Snowbird Mountains near the Cherokee/Graham county line and flows generally southwest into the Hiwassee River near Murphy. The entire 120-square mile watershed lies within Cherokee County, North Carolina and the county boundaries follow the watershed boundary for much of its length. The Valley River is one of the largest tributaries of the Hiwassee River and directly influences the water quality of Hiwassee Lake immediately downstream. Additional watershed information is available in the Coalition monitoring report.

Landowner Information

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In 2001, with the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition’s (Coalition’s) Brasstown Creek Watershed Restoration Project well underway, the organization began to turn its attention to another 303(d) listed water in the North Carolina portion of the basin – the Valley River. In 2003, after several iterations of a grant proposal and struggles with state budget cuts, the Clean Water Management Trust Fund (Trust Fund) provided a $400,000 grant to the Coalition to help support a restoration initiative in the Valley River watershed. Using this initial funding from the Trust Fund and funding from other agencies working in the watershed, the Coalition began Phase I of a 6-year watershed restoration initiative. Matching funds in the amount of $279,656 were expended by the Coalition and its partners - 42% of the total project cost ($679,656).

Fish and aquatic insect community data were collected at 24 sites in the watershed, including four sites on the Valley River proper, most of which were last sampled in 1993-94. A report of these data with comparisons to historical data was published by the Coalition in November 2004 and is available for download below. The Coalition was also able to begin restoration activities with a 5,600-linear foot project along the Valley River below Andrews (Wood Phase I) and a 960' project along Town Branch (Andrews Rec Park).

After being denied funding from the Trust Fund in 2003 for Phase II of the Valley River restoration initiative due to "concerns about the lack of specific landowner commitment for needed agreements associated with the project,” the Coalition began a renewed effort to gain community support. Coalition staff reviewed the water quality data collected in 2002 and identified landowners along all of the “severely eroding streambanks” that were discovered through a nonpoint source pollution inventory. NRCS, local Soil & Water Conservation District staff, and Coalition staff were already familiar with many of the sites and most of them were included in the 2003 application, however in 2004, staff visited all of the local landowners and sent packets to those that don’t live locally to explain the restoration program and gage interest in participation. Landowners were asked to complete a form to document their interest.

Of the 63 different parcels that were identified as high to medium priority based on restoration/water quality need, landowners on 31 parcels were contacted and 22 interest forms were completed and returned. In addition, 35 people were in attendance at a February 2004 public meeting to discuss the project. Following receipt of interest forms, five Valley River mainstem projects (18,050 linear feet) and eight tributary projects (19,000 linear feet) were identified for varying levels of restoration work. [See map (pdf) of proposed Phase II restoration sites.] The Coalition estimates that approximately three and a half years and $4.5 million

In 2005, the Trust Fund approved $966,000 (44%) of the Coalition's nearly $2.2 million grant request for Phase II of the Valley River Watershed Restoration Project and $61,000 to complete construction of the project along Town Branch at the Andrews Recreation Park. Restoration of another 5,200-linear foot project was completed on the Valley River in 2006, along with 450 feet of Sam Branch (Middle Valley). Several projects are scheduled for completion in 2007 and 2008.