Transportation and USDA Forest Service Partnership for Mitigation Banking in SC

In 2003, SCDOT purchased two contiguous tracts in Newberry County for the purpose of constructing a stream mitigation bank. This property, now known Hunting Creek Mitigation Bank, is located in the Central Piedmont region of South Carolina along Highway 176. The project involves the restoration and protection of Hunting Creek and 7 tributaries from US 176 to the property boundary with Sumter National Forest. The property encompasses approximately 306 acres of uplands that were historically used for cattle farming and other agriculture practices. There are 11,460 linear feet of streams within the property that will be restored into 13,939 linear feet of 1st and 2nd order stream channel. The bank is located in the Piedmont Ecoregion within the Broad River watershed (8 digit HUC 03050108). Historic land use within the Hunting Creek watershed has a involved the removal of riparian vegetation and unrestricted cattle access to the streambed. These long-term impacts to the watershed has created a situation where most of the main channel and some of the associated tributaries are deeply incised. Much of the restoration at Hunting Creek will be priority 1 restoration, meaning that the channel invert will be raised to correct the entrenchment issues within the existing channel. Upon completion of the construction activities, buffers along the stream will planted with native riparian vegetation. Additionally, the site will be transferred to the US Forest Service who will serve as the long-term steward for the mitigation property. The site will undergo five years of post-construction monitoring to document success of the restoration activities. Successful implementation of the project will generate up to 59,565 stream mitigation credits.