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® I NONPOINT SOURCE SUCCESS STORY
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Joes Branch Restoration: Illustrating a Model Watershed Approach
Waterbody Improved As ur'3aniza^on §rew in Joes Branch watershed, construction,
impervious areas, and stormwater quantity and force caused
massive turbidity and erosion of stream channels and drainageways. The Alabama Department of
Environmental Management (ADEM) added Joes Branch to the 2008 Clean Water Act (CWA) section
303(d) list of impaired waterways for not fully supporting its use classification of fish and wildlife
(F&W) due to a siltation impairment. Dedicated partnerships levered funding sources to implement
targeted best management practices that improved water quality; as a result, ADEM removed the
segment from the CWA section 303(d) list in 2020.
Problem
Joes Branch begins in Spanish Fort, Alabama, before
flowing into Daphne and converging with D'Olive
Creek past the Lake Forest subdivision's dam. it
then discharges into D'Olive Bay and eventually into
Mobile Bay (Figure 1). The watershed is comprised
of 64 percent urban and 19 percent forested land. It
encompasses an area of 0.97 square miles. Between
2001 and 2016, the developed land in the Joes Branch
watershed increased by nearly 24 percent. Increased
impervious surfaces reduced rain infiltration rates
and increased the overall volume and velocity of
stormwater. This caused severe erosion and headcuts
of streams and drainage channels and decreased the
total amount of retention areas.
A study by the Geological Survey of Alabama in 2007,
which assessed the sedimentation rates in streams in
the D'Olive Creek watershed, identified elevated sus-
pended sediment loads within the 1.57-mile segment
of Joes Branch. ADEM concluded that Joes Branch no
longer supported its F&W use classification due to a
siltation impairment resulting from land development;
consequently, ADEM included the waterbody on the
2008 CWA section 303(d) list.
Foiley Creek was selected as the reference station
for this site. When assessing impairment, ADEM's
reference condition approach considers ambient
water quality data from reference streams in the same
ecoregions with characteristically similar watersheds.
ADEM allotted CWA section 319 money from the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which
partially supported the Watershed Management
Figure 1. Joes Branch watershed empties into D'Olive Bay
in southwest Alabama.
Plan for the D'Olive Creek, Joes Branch, and Tiawasee
Creek Watersheds-Daphne, Spanish Fort, and Baldwin
County, Alabama (WMP). The goal of the plan was
to identify scientifically supported and economically
effective restoration activities to improve the health
and habitat of the impaired waters. Through the
WMP development effort, a pathway to recovery was
identified.
Story Highlights
The successful delisting of Joes Branch is due to a
network of partners and restoration efforts that
spanned 6 years and targeted five discrete areas
covering stream reaches, wetlands, floodplains, and
two detention ponds. For the restoration video, select
here; for further information, visit Mobile Bay National
Estuary Program's (MBNEP) website.
Legend
AL03160204-0505 800
I Joes Branch V
0 JOBB-2
	NHDFIowline

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Figure 2. Incised headcut of the Joes Branch channel.
Figure 3. Step pool conveyance system in Joes Branch.
The first project, called JB1, created a series of step
pools that restored a degraded channel with an active
head cut (Figure 2). These pools cause high-velocity
water to slow down and infiltrate, which fosters stream
channel habitat restoration (Figure 3). This project was
the first of its kind in the D'Olive Creek Watershed, and
it showed the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
(NFWF) that continued investment in the watershed
was justified. A second project (JB2), continued
the step pool conveyance system downstream and
completed wetland restoration and floodplain realign-
ment. Section 319 funds were used to help restore the
wetlands downgradient of the step pools.
ADEM also allocated CWA section 319 funds to add
additional step pools to a transition between projects
known as JB1 and JB2 (1,400 feet of NFWF-funded
stream restoration downstream). This project con-
nected the two restorations and provided a more
stable water flow path. It also further stabilized the
channel and provided additional habitat.
Results
Post-restoration monitoring of Joes Branch by Marlon
Cook revealed sediment loading had reduced by 90-95
percent. Separate monitoring and analysis byADEM's
Water Quality Branch determined that Joes Branch
had been restored to support its water use classifica-
tion of fish and wildlife. ADEM's reference condition
approach was used to compare ambient water quality
data from reference streams in characteristically
similar regions of Alabama, known as ecoregions.
The median total suspended solid concentration (7.0
milligrams per liter [mg/L]) from Joes Branch were
considerably less than the ecoreference guideline con-
centration (10 mg/L). In addition, the turbidity samples
were less than the applicable numeric criterion. Based
on a review of the data, ADEM removed Joes Branch
from the CWA section 303(d) list in 2020.
Partners and Funding
The restoration effort received two prestigious
awards: the International Green Apple Award and the
Gulf Guardian Award for Partnerships. MBNEP was
a neutrai entity that brought restoration partners
together. The cities of Spanish Fort and Daphne used
resources and partnerships to restore the waterbody.
NFWF'sGulf Environmental Benefit Fund recognized
the targeted approach and committed $12 million
dollars to restoring the D'Olive Creek watershed, with
almost $3 million in federal funding allocated to Joes
Branch. CWA section 319(h) funds from multiple fiscal
years totaled $919,668 in federal funding; watershed
partners provided $712,382 in match.
Partners included NFWF; EPA Region 4; Mississippi-
Alabama Sea Grant Consortium; City of Daphne;
City of Spanish Fort; Baldwin County; Thompson
Engineering; Alabama Power; Lake Forest Property
Owners Association; Westminster Village Retirement
Community; Alabama Department of Transportation;
North State Environmental; Southern Excavators, LLC;
Geological Survey of Alabama; Cook Hydrogeology,
LLC; and others.
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA 841-F-20-001V
October 2020
For additional information contact:
Alabama Nonpoint Source Management Program
Alabama Department of Environmental Management
334-260-4501 • ADEM.NPS.Program@adem.alabama.gov
Roberta Swann
Mobile Bay National Estuary Program
251-380-7940 • rswann@mobilebaynep.com

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