Fall-off creek mitigation bank—Coryell county, texas:

Future Planning and benefits

Fall-Off Creek Mitigation Bank (FOCMB) is proposing to return a portion of the Leon River to its
historic channel and to breach internal private ranch levees located on the property. The
primary goal in taking these actions is to return natural function to this portion of the river,
which should in turn increase on-property flood storage, restore wildlife and vegetative habitat
in and adjacent to the river system, and improve water quality in the river.
Property History
According to historical evidence, during the early 1900’s the owner of the property built levees
adjacent to the original channel of the Leon River to protect his property from flooding, all of
which are still in place and functioning today. Later, during the 1940’s or 1950’s, a subsequent
owner built a water storage ditch through the property where water was pumped from the
Leon River or captured during flood events and stored in this ditch to irrigate crops or pasture.
During a significant rain event in the late 1950’s the Leon River flooded and eroded the upland
that separated this ditch from the river. The end result of this erosion was the diversion of the
river into the ditch, which became the permanent (and current) channel for the river.
Subsequently, a levee was constructed adjacent to the Ditch Channel for the purpose of
restricting high water events to the channel. Because of these new levees, flood levels had to
rise an additional two to three feet before overflowing into the adjacent flood plain. The levees
along the Original Channel of the river (which still remained after the rerouting of the river),
coupled with the levees placed along the Ditch Channel, work as dams that restrict flood water
from spreading across the flood plain on our property.
Project Benefits
Flood Storage. The proposed FOCMB will allow the river to once again flow through portions of
the historic river channel located on the property, providing additional capacity for the river. In
addition, our project will remove the levees along both the Original Channel and the Ditch
Channel, thus allowing flood water to once again spread out onto the floodplain located on the
property. These steps should allow the bank property to “store” much more flood water than
the property will in its current condition, as the proposed activities will allow as much as 600
additional acres of the bank’s pasture and crop land to flood during high water events. The net
effect of this additional flood storage should be relief from some upstream flooding.
Water Quality Benefits. The proposed FOCMB should improve water quality upstream and
downstream of the property. The river utilizing the Ditch Channel as its primary channel has
created problems not related to flooding. The elevation change previously covered in 4.5 miles
of the Original Channel is now concentrated into the 1.2 mile-long ditch. This makes the
gradient of the river steeper, causing the water, during normal flows, to move relatively faster
as it flows downstream. The erosion caused by quickly moving water that is unimpeded by
river bends and meanders has caused the bottom of the ditch to erode significantly and at a
much faster rate than it would under normal conditions. The resulting deeper, eroded Ditch
Channel has caused the river bank to undercut and destabilize; therefore, causing the banks to
cave, or slide into the river. Unfortunately the river does not recognize landowner boundaries
and this process (erode-undercut-cave) continues today, not only on FOCMB property, but on
adjacent landowners upstream as well. The eroded sediment has destroyed fish habitat,
decreased water quality, increased siltation in Lake Belton, and destroyed valuable farm and
ranch land of property owners along the Leon River who depend on this land for their
livelihood.
Coordination with Other Restoration Efforts
The process of restoring and enhancing the Leon River is not limited to just FOCMB. Millions of
federal and state dollars have been spent on, or are earmarked for, projects to clean up the
Leon River. In 1998, the reach of the Leon River from below Lake Proctor to Lake Belton was
listed as impaired on the State of Texas Clean Water Act Section 303(d) List for having bacteria
concentrations that exceeded the state’s water quality standards. A watershed protection plan
is currently in place and is being facilitated by the Brazos River Authority, funded with federal
and state dollars granted by the Texas Soil and Water Conservation Board in an effort to
improve water quality throughout the Leon River watershed.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has also begun developing total maximum
daily load (TMDL) requirements for the Leon River, targeting a reduction in bacteria loadings by
21% to meet water quality standards and support contact recreation use (e.g., swimming,
wading, etc.). Additional efforts targeting water conservation measures in the watershed
include U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service funding for the
Leon River water quality improvement project for which several million dollars of federal
money was recently earmarked. FOCMB is poised to assist in this clean-up process using
natural mechanisms.
Advanced Ecology is excited about our newest endeavor into stream mitigation, and continues
to look forward to studying the Leon River and meeting the mitigation needs of central Texas.
If you have additional questions, or require additional information about FOCMB or other
projects, please do not hesitate to contact us at cgreer@advancedecology.com or see our new
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fall-Off-Creek-Mitigation-
Bank/498274685011 where we will post regular updates on FOCMB.

Fall-Off Creek Mitigation Bank launches new Facebook page to allow the public to follow the progress
of the permitting process, and see how our work is benefiting the local watershed and ecoregion. Documents
associated with the bank permitting will be posted, as well as pictures of the project site. Currently, the
Prospectus and Public Notice are available for viewing. We encourage comments and questions. Please
become a fan today!