Reedy Creek Stream Restoration Project: A Watershed Scale Design-Build Stream Restoration project in Charlotte, NC
Christine Blackwelder &
Wildlands Engineering
Charlotte, NC
William Harris
City of Charlotte - Storm Water Services
Charlotte, NC
Authors: Blackwelder, C. D. & Harris, W. T.
The Reedy Creek Park and Nature Preserve consists of 927 acres of natural, forested habitat and is located within northeast Charlotte’s university area. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services (CMSWS) identified this area as a unique opportunity to protect and restore a headwater stream network while providing stream and wetland credits for the City’s Umbrella Mitigation Bank. Goals of the project included improving bed and bank stability, diversifying habitat, and improving the hydrologic connectivity of the streams, wetlands and floodplains through natural channel design techniques.
CMSWS partnered with Wildlands Engineering as the design-build firm to complete design, public outreach, easement acquisition, permitting, construction, and mitigation monitoring services. The project was constructed through the progressive GMP design-build approach from November 2017 through February 2019. Over 5 miles of streams were restored and reconnected to their floodplains and almost 3 miles of headwater streams were protected. The third year of post-construction monitoring has been completed.
This presentation will review the structure of the Reedy Creek watershed, which includes an agricultural subwatershed, a high-density residential subwatershed without stormwater control measures, a residential subwatershed with stormwater controls, and an undeveloped forested subwatershed. The varied complexities of design and construction from subwatershed to subwatershed will be highlighted and discussed. Side-by-side comparisons of the streams’ watershed responses during monitoring will also be reviewed.
About Christine Blackwelder
Ms. Christine Blackwelder currently serves as a senior environmental scientist for Wildlands Engineering’s Charlotte, NC, office. She is a technical leader in stream restoration and her duties include assessment and design of ecological restoration projects, as well as conducting internal technical trainings. Ms. Blackwelder has 18 years of professional experience in environmental restoration and is skilled in watershed assessment methodology, geomorphic assessments, natural channel design, bid document development, construction management, and monitoring techniques. Wildlands Engineering specializes in stream and wetland restoration with a particular focus on innovative engineering for ecosystem renewal.
About William Harris
Mr. William Harris currently serves as a Project Manager for the City of Charlotte’s Storm Water Services division. He has had the pleasure of leading the first design-build project that the Engineering and Property Management department has undertaken. William has over 16 years of storm water experience including flood control, pollution control and stream restoration projects. He received his Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2000. Storm Water Services staff currently manages more than 400 storm drainage improvement projects. Over the next 5 years, Storm Water Services is investing approximately $450 million throughout our community and is one of the largest stormwater utilities in the Southeast with more than 150 employees.