4.5 River Basins
4.5.18 Watauga River Basin 4.5.18.1 River Basin Description
Te Watauga River watershed drains northwest into Tennessee where it fows into Watauga Reservoir. Te Watauga River is a tributary of the Holston River, which is a major tributary of the Tennessee River. Te basin is one of the smallest in North Carolina, encompass- ing only 205 square miles and approximately 270 stream miles, and is entirely within the Mountain ecoregion. Te Elk River is a major tributary. Based on 2011 National Land Cover Dataset information (MRLC 2011; Jin et al. 2013) , land use cover in the basin is 79% forested, 10% agricultural, 10% developed or urban, 1% grassland, and less than 1% wetland (MRLC 2011; Jin et al. 2013) . Most land ownership is private, with less than 10% public lands (which includes portions of the Pisgah National Forest, Blue Ridge Parkway, Elk Knob Game Land, and Grandfather Mountain State Park). Te basin encompasses parts of two counties (Avery and Watauga) and has six munic- ipalities, including Banner Elk, Beech Mountain, Seven Devils, and Sugar Mountain. Figure 4.35 depicts the location of the basin. 4.5.18.2 Aquatic Resource Conditions Water quality is generally good for areas where data are available; however, there are prob- lems in parts of the basin (described below) and the lack of data for nearly half the basin provides an unclear assessment of overall water quality. Tere are more than 300 miles of freshwater streams in the basin that have been classifed by NCDWR for best uses (NCDWR 2015d) . Table 4.85 provides information on water quality classifcations and use-support ratings in the basin. Tere are 171 miles of NCDWR-designated trout waters (Tr) in the basin. Te mainstem Watauga River is designated High-Quality Waters (HQW) and the Boone Fork and headwa- ters are designated Outstanding Resource Waters (ORW) (NCDWR 2015d) .Tere is one HQW Special Management Strategy Area (SMSA) for the Watauga River (28,790 acres) and one ORW SMSA for the Boone Fork Area (6,302 acres) in the basin (NCDWR 2015c) . Tese areas require site-specifc provisions to protect resource values (no new discharges or expansion of existing discharges) (see 15A NCAC 02B .0225). 4.5.18.3 Aquatic Species Tere are four SGCN in the basin: one crayfsh species, two freshwater fshes, and one freshwater mussel species. Appendix G provides a list of SGCN and species for which there are knowledge gaps or management concerns. Appendix H identifes SGCN associated with
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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