Brian Hemel lowers his net into the murky, stagnant water of an abandoned section of Friar’s Branch Creek and lifts out a snapping turtle and a pair of Bluegill along with the muck from the creek bottom.
Under the watchful eye of neighboring residents, Hemel carefully puts the turtle and fish in his bucket and transfers them to the rerouted creek 50 feet away.
As the construction supervisor on a $1.2 million program to reshape and replace a concrete viaduct and Friar’s Branch in East Brainerd, Hemel is on no ordinary summertime fishing expedition.
The Tennessee Stream Mitigation Program, an eight-year-old agency that uses developer fees to help restore impaired creeks like Friar’s Branch, is demolishing and rerouting the concrete channel erected decades ago to separate Hickory Creek Townhomes on Hickory Valley Road from the adjacent city-owned golf course, used for the First Tee training program.
“The smell from the dying fish is terrible,” said Tami Freeman, who helped with a weekend effort to scoop out fish trapped in the old creek. “It’s upsetting to the whole community and I think it certainly could have been done a lot better.”
Bulldozers and graders have erected a new, more winding creek which project manager Rob Bailey insists will help in the long run to restore a more natural stream flow and help fish and other wildlife to do better than in the old stream.
“We certainly understand and appreciate the concerns that nearby homeowners have had during this construction phase,” he said. “But I’m confident when this project is completed that they will see the advantages of what we are doing. And we’re going to be around for the next five years to make sure this project is successful.”
Bailey said much of the smell comes from the dying vegetation and muck dug up from the creek bottom, not from dying fish or other wildlife.
But he acknowledges that most of the vegetation around the old creek and some of the fish and wildlife may be lost from the project.
“We try to minimize the impact and we have done more than usual to limit these problems with this project, but they do occur,” he said.
The rest of the old creek will likely be filled in this week. But the entire project to reroute and rehabilitate sections of both Friar’s Branch and Poe Branch creeks probably won’t be done until November, he said.
“The dust and dirt is so overwhelming and everything is covered with dust,” said Mildred Gildenmeister, whose townhome is located on the Friar’s Branch creek. “I think it’s an unhealthy situation, but you can’t do anything about it. It’s got to be done.”
In the long run, Bailey says, the rerouted stream will be lined and shaded with trees, grasses and shrubs being planted as part of the project. That environment should be better for most fish and aquatic life, he said, including the Chickamauga crawfish, which has been discovered only in the Chattanooga area and is considered a state-threatened species.
“I’m just glad to finally see the project moving ahead and I look forward to it being done,” said Jane Hancock, one of the townhome owners whose house backs up the creek.
Tisha Calabrese-Benton, communications director for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, said the project obtained both an aquatic resources alteration permit and construction stormwater permit.
Regulators have visited the site to ensure that crews relocated as many fish as possible and complied with state environmental rules, she said.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.