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by EDWARD SZTUKOWSKI
News Reporter
Boone has committed $5,000 for a grant to further restore Kraut Creek, a stream that makes its way through downtown Boone and the campus of Appalachian State University.
George Santucci, executive director of the National Committee for the New River, asked for the monetary commitment at the Boone Town Council meeting Jan. 15.
 Approximately $5,000 of restoration grant money was approved Jan. 15 for Kraut Creek, the body of water that flows through Appalachian State University’s campus and throughout Boone. The funds will focus on the section of the creek by the Boone Mall. Photo by Rachel Noel
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He discussed the specific portion of the creek located at the Boone Mall near Hampton’s Body Shop.
The small stream often overruns its banks in the area, flooding a portion of the mall parking lot.
“When
the mall floods, its expensive,” geography professor Jana Carp said.
“It costs thousands of dollars to clean up the sediment left in the
parking lot, so the mall manager has been interested for a long time.”
“The
overall challenge with the area is it’s so urbanized,” Santucci said.
“The land all around it is concrete and asphalt. It doesn’t have the
opportunity to flood because it’s underground most of the time.”
He said the creek is overworked from the amount of buildings that have rain runoff pouring into it.
The problems will grow as Appalachian expands, and more buildings will runoff into the stream, Santucci said.
“The creek simply isn’t designed to handle this much water,” he said.
In 2004,
Carp taught a project management class that focused on improving Kraut
Creek. Community members and students continued the project after the
class, creating the Kraut Creek Committee. The committee works with the
National Committee for the
New River to continue restoration of the creek.
“The
thing about urban stream restoration is lots of people with different
interests are involved,” Carp said. “We have to find different forms of
partnerships between land owners and stream restoration advocates.”
Santucci
said to fix the problem, he wants to work with landowners to reconnect
the river at a different area of the flood plain, find out where this
can be done and then acquire the property.
Santucci
said the project should be able to start early next year if the grant
is given, but they are already looking to restore other parts of the
stream.
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