Running through part of Rendezvous Mountain Educational State Forest is Purlear Creek, a small tributary of the W. Kerr Scott Reservior watershed (part of the Yadkin/Pee-Dee river basin). The creek was left in bad shape before the land was acquired for Rendezvous Mountain ESF. Decades of poor land management practices had left erosion unchecked, filling the creek bottom with sediment.

BRIDGE crewmembers using the Sand Wand

To help fix some of this sediment problem, the staff at Rendezvous and the Forestry Nonpoint Source Unit were able to obtain grant funding from the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund. This commitment to restore Purlear to a more natural, healthy condition includes plans to:

• Clean the creek bed of excess sediment
• Stabilize its banks to prevent further erosion, and
• Reroute the stream back to its natural path in areas where it had been moved by previous landowners.

Removing excess silt and debris from a stream bottom is vital to promote good living conditons for insects, small aquatic animals, (often referred to as macro-invertebrates) and fish. To clean the creek, a tool called a "Sand Wand" is being used by staff from the N.C. Division of Forest Resources and participants in the Young Offenders Forest Conservation Program. (also known as the BRIDGE Program). This tool is a combination of an underwater pressure washer and vacuum. Water is injected into the stream bottom, which dislodges the sediment. This sediment is then vacuumed out of the stream. As part of this Sand Wand equipment, a bedload collector and other tools are used to collect sediment that is actually flowing in the stream water. These collector tools capture the sediment and remove it from the stream, before it can settle.

So far the Sand Wand cleaning has been successful. In 2005 an estimated 9 cubic yards of sediment was removed. However, this work wouldn't make any difference in the long run if soil erosion was allowed to continue. Therefore, to prevent future problems, sections of Purlear Creek's streambanks will be stabilized. In some cases suitable vegetation adapted for the wet, shady conditions will be planted. In other places, logs or root-wads will be positioned to act as a barrier to deflect the stream water away from eroding streambanks.

In years past, segments of Purlear Creek were moved, so more land could be used for pasture and crops. Now that the land is once again going to be forested, the stream can be relocated to its natural floodplain, and no longer look like or act like a ditch. By relocating the stream, a more natural flow of water and debris can allow better habitat conditions, as noted earlier. This re-alignment, as well as the entire project, is benefitting from the technical overisight provided by the N.C. State University Biological & Agricultural Engineering Department.

The final phase of this project will be to re-establish forest trees along the stream zone that was once pasture. This stream zone is known as a riparian area, since it is in close contact with water. Suitable hardwood and pine seedlings grown at the NCDFR's Claridge Nursery will be used, along with other adapted trees, to reforest the majority of the watershed area.

For more information on this project, visit the NCDFR's Forestry Nonpoint Source Web page.