MRW Environmental, LLC
Wetland and Natural Resource Consulants
Beech River Mitigation Site
This project, located
in Henderson County, Tennessee was developed for TDOT to provide mitigation to
offset wetland losses resulting from road-building projects in Henderson and
adjacent counties. The site which is adjacent to a tributary to Beech River and historically was a bottomland
hardwood forested wetland. It had been severely
degraded by clearing and conversion to cropland. The removal of the
hydrology was accomplished trough the
installation of drainage tiles and the construction of a network of
ditches. Hydrologic restoration, which began in 2011, was
complex and involved filling a series of ditches and locating and breaking drainage
tiles. The area was replanted with
native bottomland hardwood species that same year. The site is transitioning from the grass/forb
stage of succession to that of a young bottomland forest. It is providing
valuable early successional habitat that is uncommon in western Tennessee. As it continues to mature into a bottomland
hardwood ecosystem, it will provide habitat for a myriad of wetland-dependent
species and complement the wetland habitat on nearby TWRA lands.
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Before -
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After -
After
Before
Client: Tennessee Department of Transportation
Acreage: 34.0
Year Initiated: 2011
Project Status: Completed
Report Link: Coming Soon