Ramey Creek/Roaring Fork Creek Brook Trout Stream
Demise on Blue Ridge Parkway
|
Wildlife Resources performs emergency rescure of native brookies on Ramey Creek due to damage from Bottomley companies.
UPDATE from July 15, 2022 Another notice of violation issued to Bottomley Companies for violations on Ramey Creek. UPDATE from April 26, 2022 Click here to continue to follow the latest update. The Bottomley companies have been fined $266,000. UPDATE from March 16, 2022 The Bottomley companies are cited again for damage done to the Little Fisher River in Mount Airy, NC. The NOV filing can be accessed here. UPDATE from January 3, 2022 The Bottomley companies have presented and started implementation of a remediation plan for Ramey Creek on their property. The DEQ has conditionally approved the plan. The DEQ will inspect their work at some date in the near future and determine if they met all the requirements. The litigation is still pending and we expect to know more about its trajectory early in the new year. Sometime last year, Bottomley Evergreens & Farms, Inc. and Bottomley Properties NC LLC (Bottomley Companies) started clearing land in Alleghany and Surry Counties along Ramey creek off the Blue Ridge Parkway. They claimed this an agriculture operation, which in North Carolina exempts them from the requirements of the Sedimentation Pollution Control Act. This exemption means they do not need to file any erosion permits, place any erosion controls, or leave any trees standing anywhere. The exemption however does not provide a free pass on complying with North Carolina’s water quality standards. The Division of Water Resources issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) to the Bottomley Companies in November 2020 and asked them to correct the situation. The company agreed to fix the problems, but meanwhile continued clearing more, and more land along the parkway, without making any changes to erosion practices. By April of this year (2021) complaints were coming into North Carolina’s Wildlife Resources Commission from many sources concerning the massive land clearing spreading for miles. Unfortunately, by that point most of the trout habitat in Ramey creek, Roaring Fork Creek, Big Pine Creek had been destroyed. Read the full story, see pictures and sign up to help by clicking here! |
|
Ramey Creek Update as of January 3, 2022
The Bottomley companies have presented and started implementation of a remediation plan for Ramey Creek on their property. The DEQ has conditionally approved the plan. The DEQ will inspect their work at some date in the near future and determine if they met all the requirements. The litigation is still pending and we expect to know more about its trajectory early in the new year.
New cut into Ramey Creek
|
|
New culvert and road
Update on Ramey creek, Big Pine creek and Roaring fork demise as of Oct 30 2021
This summer, the NC Attorney General’s office sought an injunction in NC Superior Court to prohibit the Bottomley companies from further violating water quality laws in the Ramey creek watershed in Surry County. In August the judge heard initial arguments and suggested the parties go into settlement talks to try to resolve the case. The litigation remains pending and to our knowledge the parties are still in discussions about how to resolve the dispute.
In the meantime, the Bottomley companies have started to make some stabilization improvements around Ramey creek.
However, on October 5th the Department of Environmental Quality issued another Notice of Violation (NOV-2021-SS-0007) to the Bottomley companies related to additional water quality problems in Ramey creek, Big Pine creek and Roaring fork stemming from inspections done in September. The NOV stated that the Bottomley’s have started with stabilization efforts but documented many new violations. The list of violations includes causing or risking water quality problems due to additional and active vegetation clearing and grading, and new road construction without sedimentation and erosion control measures in place. The NOV documented extreme channel incisions up to 2-3 feet deep in some places and the presence of clearing debris that was washed downstream. The impacts from scour and debris blockages from upstream land clearing activities had caused extreme degradation to stream geomorphology and hydrology at some locations investigated. Additional fine sediment had deposited throughout the areas inspected. A new culvert crossing had been installed and the stream channel had been relocated above and below the culvert to direct flow into the pipes. DWR staff observed that an unnamed tributary was significantly incised immediately upstream of the newly installed culvert and that the abandoned stream channel both upstream and downstream of the new culvert crossing was unstable. Continued violations of turbidity and temperature standards were documented as well as violations related to the presence of fecal material in the water.
Thus although the Bottomley companies are taking actions to stabilize the area, they continue to cause more damage with their clearing and agricultural practices and are incurring more of the same violations and new ones. No one knows where all this will end. As of today, there have not been any fines levied on the Bottomley companies for the destruction and pollution of the three brook trout streams and all the old and new violations they committed.
At this time, we ask our members and concerned citizens to continue writing letters to the DWR and WRC letting them know why protecting our streams and water quality is very important, asking them to enforce the laws of the land and not allow the continued pollution of our streams. We should also be asking the Department of Environmental Quality why there have not been fines levied for repeated violations of water quality laws? Civil penalties are issued out of the DEQ central office and must be approved by the Section Chief, Jeff Puopart and the Division Director, Danny Smith. Both of them are out of the Raleigh central office.
You may email your letters of concerns to:
Danny Smith Email: [email protected]
Division of Water Resources director
N.C. DEQ Water Recourses
1611 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1611
Jeff Poupart [email protected]
DEQ Section Chief
N.C. DEQ Water Recourses
1611 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1611
Copy: Lon Snider, DWR Winston Salem Regional Supervisor [email protected]
Reference notice of Violations: NOV-2021-SS-0007 NOV-2020-SS-0026
Kin Hodges
District 7 Fisheries Biologist
NC Wildlife Resources
179 Stone Bridge Rd
Mount Airy, NC 27030
Email: kin.hodgesncwildlife.org
This summer, the NC Attorney General’s office sought an injunction in NC Superior Court to prohibit the Bottomley companies from further violating water quality laws in the Ramey creek watershed in Surry County. In August the judge heard initial arguments and suggested the parties go into settlement talks to try to resolve the case. The litigation remains pending and to our knowledge the parties are still in discussions about how to resolve the dispute.
In the meantime, the Bottomley companies have started to make some stabilization improvements around Ramey creek.
However, on October 5th the Department of Environmental Quality issued another Notice of Violation (NOV-2021-SS-0007) to the Bottomley companies related to additional water quality problems in Ramey creek, Big Pine creek and Roaring fork stemming from inspections done in September. The NOV stated that the Bottomley’s have started with stabilization efforts but documented many new violations. The list of violations includes causing or risking water quality problems due to additional and active vegetation clearing and grading, and new road construction without sedimentation and erosion control measures in place. The NOV documented extreme channel incisions up to 2-3 feet deep in some places and the presence of clearing debris that was washed downstream. The impacts from scour and debris blockages from upstream land clearing activities had caused extreme degradation to stream geomorphology and hydrology at some locations investigated. Additional fine sediment had deposited throughout the areas inspected. A new culvert crossing had been installed and the stream channel had been relocated above and below the culvert to direct flow into the pipes. DWR staff observed that an unnamed tributary was significantly incised immediately upstream of the newly installed culvert and that the abandoned stream channel both upstream and downstream of the new culvert crossing was unstable. Continued violations of turbidity and temperature standards were documented as well as violations related to the presence of fecal material in the water.
Thus although the Bottomley companies are taking actions to stabilize the area, they continue to cause more damage with their clearing and agricultural practices and are incurring more of the same violations and new ones. No one knows where all this will end. As of today, there have not been any fines levied on the Bottomley companies for the destruction and pollution of the three brook trout streams and all the old and new violations they committed.
At this time, we ask our members and concerned citizens to continue writing letters to the DWR and WRC letting them know why protecting our streams and water quality is very important, asking them to enforce the laws of the land and not allow the continued pollution of our streams. We should also be asking the Department of Environmental Quality why there have not been fines levied for repeated violations of water quality laws? Civil penalties are issued out of the DEQ central office and must be approved by the Section Chief, Jeff Puopart and the Division Director, Danny Smith. Both of them are out of the Raleigh central office.
You may email your letters of concerns to:
Danny Smith Email: [email protected]
Division of Water Resources director
N.C. DEQ Water Recourses
1611 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1611
Jeff Poupart [email protected]
DEQ Section Chief
N.C. DEQ Water Recourses
1611 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1611
Copy: Lon Snider, DWR Winston Salem Regional Supervisor [email protected]
Reference notice of Violations: NOV-2021-SS-0007 NOV-2020-SS-0026
Kin Hodges
District 7 Fisheries Biologist
NC Wildlife Resources
179 Stone Bridge Rd
Mount Airy, NC 27030
Email: kin.hodgesncwildlife.org
Ramey Creek/Roaring Fork Creek Brook Trout Stream
Demise on Blue Ridge Parkway
Ramey Creek cleared of trees, photo from DEQ/DWR NOV from State of NC
Sometime last year, Bottomley Evergreens & Farms, Inc. and Bottomley Properties NC LLC (Bottomley Companies) started clearing land in Alleghany and Surry Counties along Ramey creek off the Blue Ridge Parkway. They claimed this an agriculture operation, which in North Carolina exempts them from the requirements of the Sedimentation Pollution Control Act. This exemption means they do not need to file any erosion permits, place any erosion controls, or leave any trees standing anywhere.
The exemption however does not provide a free pass on complying with North Carolina’s water quality standards. The Division of Water Resources issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) to the Bottomley Companies in November 2020 and asked them to correct the situation.
The company agreed to fix the problems, but meanwhile continued clearing more, and more land along the parkway, without making any changes to erosion practices. By April of this year (2021) complaints were coming into North Carolina’s Wildlife Resources Commission from many sources concerning the massive land clearing spreading for miles. Unfortunately, by that point most of the trout habitat in Ramey creek, Roaring Fork Creek, Big Pine Creek had been destroyed.
Ramey Creek and Roaring Fork are (or were) some of the most pristine waters in the state. Classified as Trout Waters and High-Quality Waters, they held a unique southern brook trout population that the state has used to stock other streams devoid of brook trout.
With spring and early summer rains, and given the substantial clearing activities, Ramey Creek and Roaring Fork filled up with sediment anywhere from six inches to two feet deep. State agencies worked hard monitoring the streams in the field collecting turbidity and benthic macroinver- tebrate and sediment data over several months. The populations of brook trout declined so fast that the Wildlife Resources ommission had to mount a rescue operation in June to remove as many brook trout as possible from both streams before they all perished.
On June 30, DWR issued a new NOV to the Bottomley Companies for failing to comply with the first NOV issued in Nov 2020 and for causing new violations. Click here to read the first violation notice from the State of NC. Here is the second violation notice from the State of NC. DWR asked the Bottomley Companies to put remediation plans in place to correct the situation or face fines and referral to the state attorney’s office if they don’t comply. Nevertheless, as of June 30th the land clearing has continued.
The Bottomley Companies have put a small herd of cows on a corner of the property, fenced it and seeded it with grass. The rest of the site looks like mountain top removal mining with steep hills denuded of life.
A big concern is Bottomley Companies can use this land for agriculture for few years and then turn it into a real estate development, circumventing all the permitting process, erosion control and scrutiny for such a huge development along the Blue Ridge Parkway. If that happens, other companies may mimic the same tactic: buy a huge swath of land, clear it, put in some cattle or a cornfield to avoid inconvenient environmental rules, and later turn it into multimillion-dollar houses. As long as the agriculture exemption to the Sedimentation Pollution Control Act is on the books, government agencies will find themselves hamstrung to do anything, except possibly notice violations once the damage is done. This big bowl of deforested land, full of loose soil and rocks on top of the mountain, is at high risk of landslides and mudslides that may threaten properties and communities below. The next time a hurricane or tropical storm passes over the area, it could bring destruction as Hurricane Florence did in 2018. That storm destroyed the dam on the Mitchell and devastated roads and communities below. The Ramey Creek drainage is the next slope over from the Mitchell, and has been deforested with nothing holding the soil and rocks back. This could become the bigger tragedy. The Blue Ridge Chapter is committed to avoiding this outcome. At this time, we are working with other organization to:
Attached are some photos of the barren land, sediment in the streams, and the destruction of buffer zones. Also attached you will find the NOV issued to the Bottomley Companies with more details.
Please support us in stopping the destruction of land and trout streams on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The exemption however does not provide a free pass on complying with North Carolina’s water quality standards. The Division of Water Resources issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) to the Bottomley Companies in November 2020 and asked them to correct the situation.
The company agreed to fix the problems, but meanwhile continued clearing more, and more land along the parkway, without making any changes to erosion practices. By April of this year (2021) complaints were coming into North Carolina’s Wildlife Resources Commission from many sources concerning the massive land clearing spreading for miles. Unfortunately, by that point most of the trout habitat in Ramey creek, Roaring Fork Creek, Big Pine Creek had been destroyed.
Ramey Creek and Roaring Fork are (or were) some of the most pristine waters in the state. Classified as Trout Waters and High-Quality Waters, they held a unique southern brook trout population that the state has used to stock other streams devoid of brook trout.
With spring and early summer rains, and given the substantial clearing activities, Ramey Creek and Roaring Fork filled up with sediment anywhere from six inches to two feet deep. State agencies worked hard monitoring the streams in the field collecting turbidity and benthic macroinver- tebrate and sediment data over several months. The populations of brook trout declined so fast that the Wildlife Resources ommission had to mount a rescue operation in June to remove as many brook trout as possible from both streams before they all perished.
On June 30, DWR issued a new NOV to the Bottomley Companies for failing to comply with the first NOV issued in Nov 2020 and for causing new violations. Click here to read the first violation notice from the State of NC. Here is the second violation notice from the State of NC. DWR asked the Bottomley Companies to put remediation plans in place to correct the situation or face fines and referral to the state attorney’s office if they don’t comply. Nevertheless, as of June 30th the land clearing has continued.
The Bottomley Companies have put a small herd of cows on a corner of the property, fenced it and seeded it with grass. The rest of the site looks like mountain top removal mining with steep hills denuded of life.
A big concern is Bottomley Companies can use this land for agriculture for few years and then turn it into a real estate development, circumventing all the permitting process, erosion control and scrutiny for such a huge development along the Blue Ridge Parkway. If that happens, other companies may mimic the same tactic: buy a huge swath of land, clear it, put in some cattle or a cornfield to avoid inconvenient environmental rules, and later turn it into multimillion-dollar houses. As long as the agriculture exemption to the Sedimentation Pollution Control Act is on the books, government agencies will find themselves hamstrung to do anything, except possibly notice violations once the damage is done. This big bowl of deforested land, full of loose soil and rocks on top of the mountain, is at high risk of landslides and mudslides that may threaten properties and communities below. The next time a hurricane or tropical storm passes over the area, it could bring destruction as Hurricane Florence did in 2018. That storm destroyed the dam on the Mitchell and devastated roads and communities below. The Ramey Creek drainage is the next slope over from the Mitchell, and has been deforested with nothing holding the soil and rocks back. This could become the bigger tragedy. The Blue Ridge Chapter is committed to avoiding this outcome. At this time, we are working with other organization to:
- To make as many people and organizations as possible aware of the situation and the harm this agriculture exemption is doing to the environment.
- To start a writing campaign to legislators and senators, and the governor to overturn or fix the exemption rule.
- To send letters to the state attorney’s office and all involved agencies to provide support and to ask them to enforce the laws of the land and not compromise on mitigation controls.
- To support an amendment to repeal or change the agricultural exemption in the Sedimentation Pollution Control Act. Blue Ridge TU needs members to help on the Ramey Creek committee along with volunteers to pursue these goals, organize and coordinate with others so we can have the most effect in changing the situation. Please contact us through our website blueridgetu.org, send us an email at [email protected], or volunteer at any of our events.
Attached are some photos of the barren land, sediment in the streams, and the destruction of buffer zones. Also attached you will find the NOV issued to the Bottomley Companies with more details.
Please support us in stopping the destruction of land and trout streams on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Click below to download the article to share with friends/family or on social media.
| ramey_creek_article__1_.pdf |
Pictures of Ramey Creek and the clear cutting by Bottomley Companies
Credit - Andy Hill Mountain True
Ramey Creek Mile Marker 221
|
Sediment over bridge from clearing
|
Ramey Creek Mile Marker 221
|