Restoration of a Forested Wetland, Stone Mountain Creek, DeKalb County, Georgia

Proceedings of the 1991 Georgia Water Resources Conference, March 19-20, 1991, Athens, Georgia.The Environmental Protection Agency issued an administrative order to Georgia's Stone Mountain Park in November, 1989, for violation of Section 301(a) of the Clean Water Act. The order cited the Park for "causing the discharge of pollutants into waters of the United States without a permit." The park had participated in dredging a new channel for Stone Mountain Creek without first obtaining a Section 404 permit for discharge of fill material into waters of the United States. Specifically, dredge spoil had been deposited in wetlands adjacent to the creek. The administrative order mandated that Stone Mountain Park restore the disturbed wetland. In particular, EPA required that Stone Mountain Park remove fill from 0.7 acres, recommended fill removal from an additional 0.9 acres, recommended that all exposed soils be stabilized as· soon as possible, and required that all cleared areas be revegetated with wetland tree species (total of 2.5 acres). EPA also required monitoring of the vegetation and hydrology and development of a contingency plan to implement corrective measures, if necessary. This paper describes the planning, implementation, and results of the restoration effort.Sponsored by U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, and Georgia Institute of Technology.This book was published by the Institute of Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 with partial funding provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, through the Georgia Water Research Institute as authorized by the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 (P.L. 98242). The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of The University of Georgia or the U.S. Geological Survey or the conference sponsors