Project Highlights

ACEC/TN Engineering Excellence Honor Award

Enterprise South Industrial Park is located at the former Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant (VAAP). S&ME was selected to serve as the ecological consultant to characterize surface waters, delineate wetlands, conduct protected species surveys, and obtain the appropriate federal and state permits because of our knowledge of the local conditions; our relationship with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (Division of Water Pollution Control), the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS); and our ability to work through the various permitting requirements.

S&ME conducted a study to the determine the crayfish population characteristics in Poe Branch, from its headwaters on the Enterprise South Site to its termination where it had its conjunction with Friar’s Branch, a distance of approximately two miles. Special attention was directed to the possible presence of the state-threatened Chickamauga crayfish, Cambarus depressicambarus extraneous, which was determined not to be present within Poe Branch.

Beginning in 2004, S&ME ecologists conducted a surface waters assessment and delineated wetlands on the project site. S&ME later evaluated surface waters and delineated wetlands on the remaining 4,000 acres of the industrial park. S&ME obtained the required state and federal permits for the impacts of 0.42 acre of wetlands and approximately 16,700 feet of stream in an expedited time frame. Our onsite mitigation plan included the creation of a mitigation wetland next to an existing high-quality wetland. Onsite stream impacts will be mitigated by the relocation and restoration of approximately 18,500 feet of stream channel along the eastern and western boundaries of the project site. Mitigation construction is currently underway. As a component of the permit, S&ME will be monitoring the construction of the mitigation wetland and streams.
The S&ME/Barge Waggoner Sumner and Cannon team received the Honor Award for Engineering and Environmental Design from ACEC for the work on this project.