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Phase III Watershed Restoration Plan – Final .pdf format - 10MB

Phase II Watershed Assessment Report - Final .pdf format - 5MB

Little Alamance & Travis/Tickle Creek

The Little Alamance & Travis/Tickle Creek (LATT) Local Watershed Plan, completed in 2008, identified potential sites along the creeks of Little Alamance Creek, Travis Creek, and Tickle Creek in Alamance County for conservation and restoration. This project was supported by the NC Ecosystem Enhancement Program (NC EEP) and managed by the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments, and is currently being used to implement a stream restoration project in Burlington's City Park.

The purpose of this plan was to clean the waters of these creeks and restore their full use to the communities and ecosystems that rely upon them. The health and function of these lands and waters will be restored through a number of approaches, including:

Improving natural conditions for people living in the watershed;

Restoring and protecting streams and wetlands;

Protecting water quality and habitat through conservation partnerships;

Identifying needed improvements to stormwater and wastewater systems; and

Working with community leaders to foster stewardship in our watershed.

The strategies to deal with these impacts can be found in the Little Alamance, Travis, and Tickle CreekWatersheds Assessment,while a list of projects that can directly improve water quality in these streams can be found in the Little Alamance, Travis, and Tickle Creek Watersheds Restoration Plan. Projects can immediately address watershed needs, while new programs and policies can address the sources of pollution long-term.

Travis and Tickle Creeks are listed as impaired by the US EPA for having only a fair biological habitat that fails to support the animals and plants we should see there. The impacts upon these watersheds are almost entirely due to the need to improve rural land practices. The Alamance County Soil and Water Conservation District office has invested significant time and resources to address these rural impacts, and has made an enormous difference in improving and protecting the natural resources and agricultural lands of Alamance County. Unfortunately, a few lands continue to degrade water quality in these streams. Hopefully, with time and funding, these impacts can be addressed.

Little Alamance Creek also fails to support the animals and plants that it should, and is listed as impaired by the US EPA for this reason. However, the sources of these impacts are very different from those affecting Travis and Tickle Creeks. Little Alamance Creek is an urban stream that has a long history of industrial development that corresponds to a long history of water quality degradation. The Creek, which flows through Burlington and Graham, NC, experiences flash floods, erosion, and is the catch basin for all trash flowing out of these cities. This is the legacy of stormwater. Stormwater SMART is working with the Cities of Burlington and Graham, the Haw River Assembly, and a number of private sector interests through the Little Alamance Restoration Alliance (LARA) to address these stormwater short- and long-term stormwater problems locally.

The NC Division of Water Quality is conducting a Total Maximum Daily Load Assessment (TMDL) for the stormwater pollution in Little Alamance Creek watershed. It aims to effectively reduce the paved surfaces in the 36-square mile watershed from 30% to 9%. This does not mean reducing all of the paved surfaces in the watershed, but finding alternatives to having the water move over the watershed, including underground storage, rain water capture, and strategic best management practices. Piedmont Triad COG will be working closely with both NC DWQ and the Cities on this issue.

Piedmont Triad Council of Governments

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Little Alamance & Travis/Tickle Creek