Stream Maintenance Guidelines
Permits are required for digging, trenching, dumping, dredging, clearing, and operating equipment in or near a creek, wetland, lake, or near a sinkhole, because:
• Dumping material into a stream or changing the banks or channel can cause flooding
• Changing the flow of a stream can cause rapid erosion of downstream property
• Digging or operating equipment in a stream or wetland causes sediment pollution
• Muddy water caused by in-stream work is harmful to fish and other creek life
• Water treatment plant filters are clogged more often by high-sediment water
• Possible adverse impacts on adjacent properties or infrastructure That’s why working in the channel – within the banks – or in a wetland or sinkhole drain requires one or more permits.
The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) issues permits for the placement of dredged or fill material into the “waters of the United States,” which include rivers, lakes, wetlands, streams, sinkholes, and their tributaries.
The DOW is also involved, because that agency has to certify that the USACE permit will not harm water quality. DOW also issues permits for construction within the floodplain or stream, and for all projects that disturb one acre or more. Local agencies also require permits for land disturbance activities.
Link to the comprehensive 64-page guide – Guide for Working in Kentucky Stream Channels and Wetlands
Guidelines for Stream Obstruction Removal
Log jams, fallen trees, sediment (silt, sand and/or gravel), debris, and other materials can build up and obstruct flow in ditches, streams, culverts, and under bridges during and after periods of heavy rainfall. These obstructions may create an increased risk of flooding, property and infrastructure damage, and result in erosion and increased sedimentation. Removing stream obstructions is a temporary solution; streams naturally deposit sediment and form meanders during periods of high flow.
Natural debris and sediment play important roles in aquatic ecosystems. If done improperly or excessively, removing stream obstructions may have negative impacts on-site, upstream, and downstream of where the obstructions are being removed. The answers provided in this fact sheet and guide outline common best practices for stream obstruction removal.
Stream Maintenance Fact Sheet for Stream Obstruction Removal
Stream Maintenance Debris Removal Guide
KY Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control Guide
Gravel Excavation and Removal
The excavation and removal of gravel can result in serious stream impacts by eliminating aquatic habitat and by causing channel instability if done incorrectly. Many streams are too small to accommodate gravel excavation in an environmentally sound manner. Keep in mind that removing point bars will do little to improve stream flow or stabilize stream banks. Likewise, pushing creek rock onto stream banks will not provide long-term bank stabilization. In-stream activities that significantly increase sedimentation or alter stream flow are violations of state water quality standards and may be subject to enforcement action.
Guidelines for Gravel Excavation and Removal
Gravel Removal from Streams Fact Sheet
Reports of excessive gravel removal from Kentucky streams have prompted DOW to reiterate creek gravel extraction guidelines to minimize impacts on the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the waterway. Creek gravel is used by road departments, construction companies, and private landowners in a variety of ways. The size, shape, hardness, and chemical composition of stream gravel make the gravel ideal for use in concrete.
Gravel Removal from Streams
Protecting Streams CRS Activities
Some mitigation activities earn CRS credits for protecting streams. Communities that protect streams should consider implementing these creditable activities:
- Adopting erosion and sediment control regulations for land disturbed during development.
- Establishing a library of flood risk data, which can contain LID and green space information.
- Maintaining a flood protection website that can include relevant LID/GI information.
- Prohibiting fill in the 100-year floodplain.
- Adopting a building code that contains LID/GI requirements and practices.
- Using dedicated funding for new or retrofit LID/GI projects in a capital improvement plan.
- Conducting outreach that may include LID/GI and stream protection information.
- Prohibiting dumping of yard waste and trash in streams and enforcing compliance.
Benefits of Natural Floodplains & Open Space
Nature Based Solutions, Conservation, & Restoration
The tools and resources below apply broadly to land use and community planners, conservation and parks departments, elected officials, planning commission members, non-profits, and conservation organizations. The information, tools and links may assist in determining ways to incorporate nature-based solutions and species and habitat conservation into floodplain management strategies and decisions
State Policy Approaches to Floodplain Restoration and Protection
Over the past thirty years, the science guiding how we manage our rivers has been evolving to emphasize the river as a whole system. Past approaches prioritized constraining the river into a stable and predictable channel to control the delivery of water downstream and reduce chances of the river overflowing its banks and flooding adjacent communities. This approach has devastated river health and degraded the multitude of essential ecosystem benefits that sustain our communities, economies, and the environment.
An emerging tool in the resiliency adaptation toolbox aligns the management of water resources, land use changes, and potential hazards to improve benefits for communities and the environment in an equitable manner. There are many names for this new paradigm—nature-based solutions, integrated river basin management, integrated floodplain management (IFM), and more—but the underlying tenet is the same. Rivers need adequate space for the natural processes that create the multiple benefits our communities, economies, and the environment rely upon to be healthy and resilient.
To maintain a healthy, functioning river requires managing the entire river corridor—the river channel, all of the floodplain, the riparian areas and wetlands, and the connected aquifer—as a single interdependent system. Rather than trying to change the way the river behaves, various IFM models acknowledge that river systems are dynamic and require space within the river corridor for the natural processes including high and low flows, flood water storage in adjacent floodplains, and sediment deposition and transport.
Read more at River Network
Natural Floodplains and Flood Loss Reduction
Floodplains provide numerous flood loss reduction benefits as a result of their unique natural functions. Rivers and streams shape floodplain topography and influence riparian habitats and riverine ecosystems. Likewise, the physical characteristics of the floodplain shape flood flows and can provide flood loss reduction benefits to include the following:
Excess water storage: Except in narrow, steep valleys and areas of coastal bluffs, floodplains provide a broad area which allows floodwaters to spread out and temporarily store excess water. This reduces flood peaks and velocities and the potential for erosion. Flood storage is particularly important in urban areas where even small floods resulting from a 5- or 10-year storm can cause severe flood damage. One acre of floodplain flooded one foot deep holds approximately 330,000 gallons of water.
Flow rate and erosion reduction: In their natural vegetated state, floodplains slow the rate at which the incoming overland flow reaches the main water body in the area. Vegetation also reduces shoreline erosion. In coastal areas, beaches, sand bars, dunes, and wetlands act as natural barriers to dissipate waves and protect back-lying areas from flooding and erosion.
Slowing runoff: A natural floodplain has surface conditions favoring local ponding and flood detention, plus subsurface conditions favoring infiltration and storage. Slowing runoff across the floodplain allows additional time for the runoff to infiltrate and recharge available groundwater aquifers when there is unused storage capacity. The slowing of runoff provides the additional benefit of natural purification of water as local runoff or overbank floodwater infiltrates and percolates through the floodplain alluvium.
Flow regulation during non-flood periods: During non-flood periods, groundwater discharge acts to naturally regulate the flow in a river or the level of a lake or pond.? In other words, during periods of abundant water, the water can enter the groundwater system whenever there is available capacity rather than contribute to seasonal flood peaks.? During low flow periods, the water flows from the higher groundwater system into lower surface waters, so that the frequency and duration of extremely low flows is reduced.
Natural and Beneficial Functions of Floodplains
Natural floodplains provide flood risk reduction benefits by slowing runoff and storing flood water. They also provide other benefits of considerable economic, social, and environmental value that are often overlooked when local land-use decisions are made.
Floodplains frequently contain wetlands and other important ecological areas which directly affect the quality of the local environment. Some of the benefits of floodplains to a functioning natural system include:
- Fish and wildlife habitat protection
- Natural flood and erosion control
- Surface water quality maintenance
- Groundwater recharge
- Biological productivity
- Higher quality recreational opportunities (fishing, bird watching, boating, etc.)
See the Green Guide, published by the Association of State Floodplain Managers, for more information on the benefits of natural systems and the history of floodplain development.
DOW Nature Based Solutions Video
There are opportunities to strengthen and empower Kentucky’s communities, while simultaneously addressing water quality and quantity issues. In doing so, we can mitigate flooding while promoting social, economic and environmental wellbeing.
The Division of Water and its partners can assist community planners, risk managers, and watershed groups interested in practices that mutually address water quality and quantity issues.
Watch the Video! Link to the Kentucky Division of Water Nature-Based Solutions – YouTube.
CRS – Protect Natural Floodplains
The CRS credits over 90 elements of comprehensive floodplain and watershed management that may be implemented by communities. The 90 elements include significant credits for protecting the natural functions of riverine and coastal floodplains, especially for:
- Preserving natural floodplain open space and acquiring floodprone land and returning it to its natural state.
- Planning for comprehensive floodplain management, including plans to protect and restore natural functions and habitat.
- Watershed management programs, including those that identify wetlands and natural areas and help protect natural channels.
The CRS promotes comprehensive floodplain management planning, analysis, and evaluation related to the protection of the natural functions of floodplains and habitat protection. Credit is available for community-adopted management plans that protect and enhance one or more of the natural functions and native species of the local floodplain.
CRS communities can earn flood insurance premium discounts for protecting the natural functions of floodplains by:
- Preserving open space in floodplains
- Protecting natural shorelines
- Prohibiting fill in the floodplain
- Mapping natural floodplain functions
- Providing for low impact development, low density zoning, and land development criteria that encourage open space and floodplain protection
- Creating and implementing a watershed management plan, a habitat conservation plan, a natural functions plan, or a comprehensive floodplain management plan
- Prohibiting buildings in floodplains
- Regulations to protect natural and beneficial functions and water quality
- Management of stormwater
- Controlling erosion and sediment throughout the watershed
- Planning for the protection and restoration of habitat and the natural functions of floodplains
- Public outreach and education projects about the natural functions of floodprone areas
- Library collections about the local natural functions and resources, endangered, species, habitat, and other features
- Acquisition of floodprone properties and relocating them out of the floodplain
- Stream dumping regulations
- Erosion protection maintenance
Natural Functions and CRS
Learn about the benefits of protecting natural floodplain functions, including conservation of threatened and endangered species.
Community Incentives for Nature-Based Flood Solutions
CRS for Conservation Practitioners
Nature-based solutions—such as open space protection and wetland restoration— can effectively reduce flood risk and are creditable components of the CRS. The conservation community can and should partner with municipalities to plan and design “nature-based solutions” that restore and protect natural areas, reduce flood risk and earn citizens a discount on their flood insurance rate.
Community Incentives for Nature-Based Flood Solutions – A Guide to FEMA’s Community Rating System
Wetlands
Wetlands are areas where the land is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, that supports plants and animals adapted to wet conditions. Wetlands act as a transition zone between dry land and aquatic ecosystems. Common types include marshes, swamps, and bogs.
National Wetlands Inventory
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency tasked with providing information to the public on the extent and status of the nation’s wetland and deepwater habitats, as well as changes to these habitats over time.
Link to the US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory
Wetlands Conservation and the CEAP
USDA’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) is a multi-agency effort led by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to quantify the effects of conservation across the nation’s working lands. CEAP provides resources for farmers and ranchers, other land managers, conservation partners, and researchers to support strategic, data-driven voluntary conservation.
CEAP Wetlands Assessments provide data, tools, and other resources to evaluate the outcomes of voluntary conservation efforts and strengthen wetland restoration decisions and maximize the benefits they provide.
Resources include:
The National Floodplain Function Alliance Wetland Mapping Consortium
Strategies and Action Plan for Protecting and Restoring Wetland and Floodplain Functions
Since 2017, the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) Foundation has collaborated with the Association of State Wetland Managers (ASWM), the National Floodplain Functions Alliance, and the Wetland Mapping Consortium to provide funding and active participation in a series of four workshops, the focus of which was to:
Improve floodplain mapping integrating geospatial data being developed and used by the wetland mapping community to identify wetland and floodplain functions.
Each of the first three workshops had a targeted discussion topic, which attendees discussed at length, offering their professional insights and informed opinions.
- The first workshop (2018) was titled Exploring Opportunities for Integrated Mapping and Functional Assessment of Riverine and Coastal Floodplains and Wetlands.
- The second workshop (2019) was titled Data Needs, GAPS and Interoperability for Integrated Mapping and Functional Assessment of Riverine and Coastal Floodplains and Wetlands.
- The third workshop (2021) was titled Federal Program and Policy Changes Needed to Advance Integrated Functional Mapping of Floodplain and Wetlands for Nature – Based Solutions.
The final workshop, which convened in 2022, was a culmination of discussions during the first three workshops, and resulted in the development of strategies and actions, which were published in the January 2023 final report, titled Strategies and an Action Plan for Protecting and Restoring Wetland and Floodplain Functions. The final report is available from the National Association of Wetland Managers.
Presentation by KDOW – 2022 KAMM Conference
From Forgotten to Critical Resource: Planning for Kentucky’s Future with Wetlands Michaela Lambert
Wetland Prioritization Tool
Planning for Kentucky’s Future One Wetland at a Time
KY Wetlands Rapid Assessment Method
KY Wetlands Rapid Assessment Method Guidance Manual
Improving Outcomes and Increasing Benefits Associated with Wetland and Stream Restoration Projects
The Environmental Law Institute and The Nature Conservancy released a handbook to advance the use of a watershed approach in the selection, design, and siting of wetland and stream restoration and protection projects, including projects required as compensatory mitigation for permitted activities. The joint report demonstrates how using a watershed approach can help ensure that these projects also contribute to the goals of improved water quality, increased flood mitigation, improved quality and quantity of habitat, and increases in other ecological services and benefits.
Watershed Approach Handbook: Improving Outcomes and Increasing Benefits Associated with Wetland
Wetland Restoration Contemporary Issues & Lessons Learned
This report will be useful to anyone who works in the field of wetland restoration including regulators, policy makers, practitioners, wetland managers, and individuals who are interested in wetland restoration.
The report 1) documents barriers and problems associated with wetland restoration practices, 2) explores what can be done to address these challenges, and 3) outlines a series of practical actions to improve wetland restoration outcomes.
This paper is divided into two chapters: Overall Challenges and Actions to Improve Wetland Restoration.
Download Wetland Restoration
Strategic Partnerships and Floodplain Buyouts: An Opportunity for Wetland Restoration
University of North Carolina Institute for the Environment; Environmental Law Institute
This Handbook summarizes key considerations for wetland and conservation agencies or organizations interested in playing a role in the floodplain buyout process. These organizations can be valuable partners for local governments while advancing their interest in ecosystem and habitat conservation or restoration.
Download Strategic Partnerships and Floodplain Buyouts
Critical Habitat Conservation
What is Critical Habitat?
Critical habitat are the specific geographic areas that contain physical and biological features essential to the conservation of an endangered or threatened species and that may require special management and protection. Critical habitat may also include areas that are not currently occupied by the species but will be needed for its recovery.
F&W Critical Habitat Fact Sheet
Kentucky Habitats of Special Concern
The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program in Kentucky assists in the restoration and conservation of all potential habitat for federal trust species, but the program concentrates on the five primary habitats of concern:
1) Stream and riparian habitats with threatened, endangered, candidate, and state rare species
2) Wetlands and bottomland hardwoods to benefit migratory birds
3) Native prairie, barren, woodland savannahs, and canebrakes to benefit migratory birds and rare plant species
4) Karst or cave habitats with threatened and endangered bats and other rare cave organisms
5) Oak/hickory, American chestnut, and old growth forests to benefit migratory birds and rare plant species
What is the Endangered Species Act?
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 protects threatened and endangered species by preserving the ecosystems in which they live. The U.S. Department of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) share the responsibility for administering the Act.
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 aims to protect such species by prohibiting anyone from “harming” or “taking” endangered species, and it extends similar protections to threatened species. Further, it requires all federal agencies to ensure that their actions do not jeopardize the continued existence of those species.
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) administer the ESA for all threatened and endangered species. NMFS generally has jurisdiction over marine species, and USFWS has jurisdiction over all other listed species. These agencies are responsible for identification and listing of species as threatened or endangered, designation of critical habitat, development of species-specific recovery plans, cooperation with states, and consultation with federal agencies to ensure federal activities do not jeopardize the continued existence of a species. The primary goal for both USFWS and NMFS is to support species recovery.
FEMA does not directly implement the Endangered Species Act—that responsibility rests with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. However, as a federal agency, FEMA is required under Section 7 of the Act to “insure that any action it authorizes, funds, or carries out is not likely to jeopardize” threatened or endangered species or their habitat. This means that actions conducted by communities, individuals, or others pursuant to a FEMA program may not jeopardize those species or their habitat. Thus, NFIP communities need to avoid modifications to the floodplain - such as fill - that could harm riparian or coastal habitats.
NFIP, CRS, and the ESA
One of the most appreciated natural functions of both inland and coastal floodprone areas is their generation and maintenance of aquatic and terrestrial environments that nurture myriad species of plants and animals. Among those species are many that may face extinction, often because of loss of habitat. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 aims to protect such species by prohibiting anyone from “harming” or “taking” endangered species, and it extends similar protections to threatened species. Further, it requires all federal agencies to ensure that their actions do not jeopardize the continued existence of those species.
An analogous situation exists with regard to CRS communities, FEMA, and other federal environmental laws. For local activities that may have an adverse impact on certain species or their habitat, or on water quality, or historical or archaeological features, or wetlands AND for which a community is requesting CRS credit, a community must ensure that it has complied with the applicable federal protective laws.
Endangered Species Act CLOMR and CLOMR-F Requirements
FEMA has established procedures by which applicants for Conditional Letters of Map Revision and Conditional Letters of Map Revision based on Fill (CLOMR and CLOMR-F) document that the Endangered Species Act has been complied with before FEMA will undertake its review of the CLOMR application. In general, that documentation takes the form of an official letter or determination from one of the Services stating either that the proposed action is not expected to affect the species or habitat or that a permit to cause such an impact has been granted.
For Letter of Map Change Requests (LOMCs) involving floodplain activities that have already occurred, private individuals and local and state jurisdictions are required to comply with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) requirements independent of FEMA’s review.
These as-built requests do not provide the same opportunity as Conditional LOMCs for FEMA to comment on the project because map changes are issued only after the physical action has occurred.
USFW CLOMC Checklist
Benefits of Conserving Endangered Species
All living things are part of a complex, often delicately balanced network called the biosphere, which is comprised of ecosystems. No one knows how the extinction of organisms will affect the other organisms in the ecosystem, but the removal of a single species can set off a chain reaction that can have deleterious effects for the system as a whole.
There are specific benefits of conserving species, which can be thought of as “values.” These values include consumptive (e.g., harvesting, fishing, medicine), non-consumptive (e.g., wildlife viewing, ecosystem balance, ecotourism, cultural heritage), and non-use (e.g., species existence) benefits that people derive from species diversity.
Congress has recognized that endangered and threatened species of wildlife and plants “are of aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value to the Nation and its people.” When it passed the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1973 Congress promoted the recovery of threatened and endangered species and the conservation of the critical habitat on which they depend. A species is considered threatened if it is likely to become endangered in the future. A species is considered endangered if it is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. There are approximately 2,375 species worldwide, with 1,678 of those occurring in the United States, listed as threatened or endangered under the ESA.
Link to more information on where threatened and endangered species and critical habitat are located and learn more about those species and habitats.
Kentucky Specific Endangered Species
The Frankfort Field Office aids Federal and State agencies, local governments, businesses, and the public in conserving, protecting, and restoring habitat for migratory birds and federally threatened and endangered species.
Their assistance is typically provided through six programs:
- pre-development consultation
- federal permits and projects
- endangered species
- environmental contaminants
- partners for fish and wildlife
- education/outreach
Approximately 94% of Kentucky is privately owned, and without conservation efforts on private lands, our trust resources would simply not recover. Many private landowners in Kentucky want to restore and conserve habitats for fish and wildlife resources but often lack the financial support and technical knowledge necessary to accomplish this task. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife program, along with its other conservation partners, helps to satisfy this need by conserving, protecting and restoring quality fish and wildlife habitat for federal trust species on private lands.
Office of KY Nature Preserves
Kentucky Data Analysis Service on Endangered Species
The Energy and Environment Cabinet (EEC) has a partnership between the Office of Energy Policy (OEP) and the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (KNP) to provide a data analysis service to energy developers.
The Kentucky Biological Assessment Tool (KY-BAT), developed and maintained by KNP, provides information to help projects avoid and minimize potential impacts to sensitive plants, animals and natural communities. This partnership is an important link between endangered species and renewable energy.
KNP’s natural heritage database contains over 20,000 species and rare community site-specific records. KNP tracks or monitors nearly 1,000 species and ecological communities, as well as natural areas throughout the state.
By using this data, OEP will be able to identify ecologically sensitive areas and help site energy projects appropriately. The KY-BAT project offered through this partnership provides data services at no cost, but it is limited to 20 projects on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Office of KY Nature Preserves
Protect Natural Floodplains and Endangered Species
Floodplains and their adjacent habitats are essential for the survival of many threatened and endangered species, ranging from sturgeon to dragonflies.
Learn about the benefits of protecting natural floodplain functions, including conservation of threatened and endangered species.
Conserving Wildlife While Reducing Flood Risk
The nation’s coastal and riverine floodplains and surrounding land areas support large and diverse populations of plants and animals by providing habitat and critical sources of energy and nutrients for these organisms. Many species spend their entire lives in the habitats found in and adjacent to the floodplain. The wide variety of plants and animals supported directly or indirectly by floodplains constitutes an extremely valuable, renewable resource important for our economic welfare, aesthetic enjoyment, and physical well-being.
Many communities across the country are recognizing the connection between conserving wildlife and reducing flood risk to their inhabitants and are engaging in activities that both protect important habitat and help minimize community flood loss.
FEMA encourages communities and project proponents to reach out to experts in wildlife and species conservation to discuss developing strategies to enhance existing habitat and reduce threats to specific species.
CRS Credit for Habitat Protection
An overview and guide to the ways communities can protect natural habitat while earning CRS credit.
Conserve Endangered Species
Identify where threatened and endangered species and critical habitat are located and learn more about those species and habitats.
Floodplain Buyouts: An Action Guide for Local Governments on How to Maximize Community Benefits, Habitat Connectivity, and Resilience
This Action Guide is designed to help local governments across the country leverage hazard mitigation buyouts to protect, restore, and connect habitats in local communities. Greatly informed by the information gathered through in-depth case studies and conversations with key players in local buyout programs, the Guide highlights management approaches that will be useful and practicable for the local officials and managers who have the ability to target their acquisitions in ways that improve habitat connectivity and resilience while also reducing flood hazards.
Link to Floodplain Buyouts: An Action Guide for Local Governments on How to Maximize Community Benefits