North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 15A - Environmental Quality › Chapter 02 - Environmental Management › Subchapter B - SURFACE WATER AND WETLAND STANDARDS › Section .0200 - CLASSIFICATIONS AND WATER QUALITY STANDARDS APPLICABLE TO SURFACE WATERS AND WETLANDS OF NORTH CAROLINA › Section 02B .0295 - MITIGATION PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS FOR PROTECTION AND MAINTENANCE OF RIPARIAN BUFFERS

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
(a) PURPOSE. The
				  purpose of this Rule is to set forth the mitigation requirements that apply to
				  applicants listed in Paragraph (c) of this Rule and to set forth requirements
				  for buffer mitigation providers.
(b) DEFINITIONS. For the purpose of this
				  Rule, these terms shall be defined as follows:
(1) "Authority" means either the Division or
				  a local government that has been delegated or designated pursuant to Rules
				  .0233, .0243, .0250, .0259, .0267, or .0607 of this Subchapter to implement the
				  riparian buffer program.
(2)
				  "Compensatory Buffer Mitigation Bank" means a buffer mitigation site created by
				  a mitigation provider and approved for mitigation credit by the Division
				  through execution of a mitigation banking instrument.
(3) "Division" means the Division of Water
				  Resources of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural
				  Resources.
(4) "Enhancement Site"
				  means a riparian zone site characterized by conditions between that of a
				  restoration site and a preservation site such that the establishment of woody
				  stems (i.e., tree or shrub species) will maximize nutrient removal and other
				  buffer functions.
(5) "Hydrologic
				  Area" means the Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD), located at no cost at
				  http://data.nconemap.com/geoportal/catalog/search/resource/details.page?uuid={16A42F31-6DC7-4EC3-88A9-03E6B7D55653}
				  using the eight-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) prepared by the United States
				  Geological Survey.
(6) "Locational
				  Ratio" means the mitigation ratio applied to the mitigation requirements based
				  on the location of the mitigation site relative to the impact site as set forth
				  in Paragraph (f) of this Rule.
(7)
				  "Mitigation banking instrument" means the legal document for the establishment,
				  operation, and use of a mitigation bank.
(8) "Monitoring period" means the length of
				  time specified in the approved mitigation plan during which monitoring of
				  vegetation success and other anticipated benefits to the adjacent water as
				  listed in the mitigation approval is done.
(9) "Non-wasting endowment" means a fund that
				  generates enough interest to cover the cost of the long term monitoring and
				  maintenance.
(10) "Outer Coastal
				  Plain" means the portion of the state shown as the Middle Atlantic Coastal
				  Plain (63) on Griffith, et al. (2002) "Ecoregions of North and South Carolina."
				  Reston, VA, United States Geological Survey available at no cost at
				  http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions/ncsc_eco.htm.
(11) "Preservation Site" means riparian zone
				  sites that, as determined by a site visit conducted by the Authority, are
				  characterized by a forest consisting of the forest strata and diversity of
				  species appropriate for the location.
(12) "Restoration Site" means riparian zone
				  sites that are characterized by an absence of trees and by a lack of dense
				  growth of smaller woody stems (i.e., shrubs or saplings) or sites that are
				  characterized by scattered individual trees such that the tree canopy is less
				  than 25 percent of the cover and by a lack of dense growth of smaller woody
				  stems (i.e., shrubs or saplings).
(13) "Riparian buffer mitigation unit" means
				  a unit representing a credit of riparian buffer mitigation as set forth in
				  Paragraph (m) of this Rule.
(14)
				  "Riparian wetland" means a wetland that is found in one or more of the
				  following landscape positions:
(A) in a
				  geomorphic floodplain;
(B) in a
				  natural topographic crenulation;
(C) contiguous with an open water equal to or
				  greater than 20 acres in size; or
(D) subject to tidal flow regimes excluding
				  salt/brackish marsh wetlands.
(15) "Stem" means a woody seedling, sapling,
				  shrub, or tree, no less than 10 centimeters in height.
(16) "Urban" means an area that is either
				  designated as an urbanized area under the most recent federal decennial census
				  available at no cost at
http://www.census.gov/
or is located
				  within the corporate limits of a municipality.
(17) "Zonal Ratio" means the mitigation ratio
				  applied to impact amounts in the respective zones of the riparian buffer as set
				  forth in Paragraph (e) of this Rule.