4.5 River Basins
4.5.15 Roanoke River Basin 4.5.15.1 River Basin Description
Te Roanoke River Basin is an Atlantic Slope basin with headwaters that begin in the Mountains of Virginia and fow eastward to drain into the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. Nearly 65% of the basin is located in Virginia.Te entire basin is approximately 9,766 square miles and in North Carolina it covers 3,493 square miles, making it the sixth largest river basin in the state. Te Roanoke River carries the most water and has the widest foodplain (up to 5 miles wide in parts) of any North Carolina river. Tere are 8,439 fresh- water stream miles, 35,955 acres of freshwater lakes and impoundments, and approxi- mately 4.2 miles of coastline in the basin (NCDWR 2015d) . According to National Hydrography Dataset, there are 1,476 estuarine acres in the basin (EPA 2014b; Jin et al. 2013) . Major tributaries to the Roanoke River include the Dan River, Mayo River, Smith River, Country Line Creek, Hyco Creek/River, Cashie River, and Conoho Creek. Major impoundments include the John H. Kerr Reservoir, Hyco Lake, Lake Gaston, and Belews Lake. Te NC portion has two distinct parts: the western Section in the Piedmont ecoregion, which includes the area above Roanoke Rapids Dam, and the eastern Section in the Coastal Plain ecoregion, which begins below Roanoke Rapids Dam. Te upper Dan River water- shed in western North Carolina shows characteristics of both the Mountain and Piedmont ecoregions, with fairly steep topography typical of Mountain headwaters. Te Piedmont portion features rolling hills and is underlain with crystalline or sedimentary rocks and many tributary streams that carry large sediment bed loads. Te transition zone between the Piedmont and Coastal Plain occurs below Roanoke Rapids Lake, with the lower 60 miles of river within the Coastal Plain. Te Coastal Plain portion features a fat topography and is underlain by sand, silt, clay, and limestone. Land use in the basin is approximately 51% forested, 13% wetland, 7% urban or developed, 6% grassland, and 20% agricultural (MRLC 2011; Jin et al. 2013) . Tere are several federal- and state-owned public lands in the basin, including over 1.14 million acres of game lands (e.g., Caswell, Bertie County, Hyco, Roanoke River, Tillery), 32,751 acres of state and federal park lands (Hanging Rock State Park, Kerr Lake Recreation Area), and 29,960 acres of Roanoke River National Wildlife Refuge. Tere are 34 municipalities within the 17 counties covered by the basin. Te most pop- ulated areas are located northeast of the Greensboro/Winston-Salem area and around the larger municipalities in the basin such as Roanoke Rapids, Eden, Williamston, and Plymouth. Figure 4.29 shows the location of the Roanoke River Basin.
601
2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online