Kim BrattainFounder/ CEO, Kim Brattain Media · Award-winning Corporate and Documentary Film Producer

Catawba Lands Conservancy - Forney Creek | Non-profit Brand video

28 Sept 2022 · 2 min

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2:17

The video features two speakers from Catawba Lands Conservancy describing the severe degradation of Forney Creek, an impaired stream in East Lincoln County, North Carolina. Over centuries of farming and timbering, the creek’s banks have eroded, leaving a mud‑and‑sand bed with no rocks, riffles, or pools, which eliminates aquatic habitat and contributes sediment to downstream waters, affecting drinking water in Dutchman's Creek and Lake Wylie. To address this, the Conservancy is undertaking a 3.5‑mile restoration that will raise the creek, install rock structures, riffles, pools, and small cascades to create fish habitat, increase dissolved oxygen, and improve aesthetics. The speakers also highlight rapid regional growth, the preservation of surrounding land for water‑quality protection, and the creation of recreational opportunities for local residents, schools, and community groups like Sally’s Y. The overarching philosophy is to leave the property better than it was found.

Chapters

I'm standing in Forney Creek, which is part of the Forney Creek Conservation Area. So Forney Creek, it was listed by the state of North Carolina as an impaired stream, and the reason for that is there's no aquatic habitat. There's no rocks, there's There's nothing for fish to hide under or for small insects to grab onto. The streambed itself is just mud and sand. The reason for that is Forney Creek over the centuries has experienced a lot of farming pressure, a lot of timbering, and what that's done is it's created situations where the riverbank is just falling away. There's no reason for me to be standing 10 feet below the streambank. in any of these streams. All the sediment that's in our streams also impacts our drinking water because Forney Creek eventually flows down into Dutchman's Creek in Mount Holly, and that's where it enters Lake Wylie. This also flows in just above the Whitewater Center. So Catawba Lands Conservancy is undertaking an ambitious effort to restore 3.5 miles of Forney Creek, and what we will do is, in rebuilding Forney Creek, we will raise it up We'll include rock structures and riffles and pools and little cascading waterfalls even to provide habitat for fish, to increase the dissolved oxygen for all the critters that are living here in Forney Creek, and also just to make it more aesthetically appealing.
This portion of East Lincoln County is growing very, very fast, and we have preserved a big hunk of the land around Forney Creek which protects our water quality. But even more, it's a recreation area for all the people who live here. The Sally's Y is here, they use this. There's a new school going in just down the road, and they will use this. You know, when we preserve a property, we want to keep it green, but in many cases we try to make it better, like with the stream restoration here. The basic idea is leave it better than you found it.