Town of Boone, North Carolina— On June 23rd, 2025, the Town of Boone hosted the long-awaited ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Lower Hardin Creek Restoration Project.
After many years of planning and grant writing, New River Conservancy, in partnership with the Town of Boone, Watauga County, the Watauga County School System, and the North Carolina Land and Water Fund, began construction of the Lower Hardin Creek Restoration Project in June 2024. The project marked a significant step toward restoring ecological balance in the area. It successfully restored 2,500 feet of Hardin Creek by stabilizing the stream bed, reconnecting the stream to its natural floodway, and enhancing aquatic and terrestrial wildlife habitats.
Before the ceremony remarks were made by George Santucci, Sustainability and Special Projects Manager for the Town of Boone, Will Summer, Executive Director for NC Land and Water Fund and Joe Johnson, Director of Operations and Projects for New River Conservancy. Johnson says “This is our bread and butter. Doing projects like this is really my passion. Not only are we going to mitigate floods, we’re also going to help with water quality and also provide habitat for wildlife.” Santucci remarked “It’s nice to see something that started 15 years ago come to fruition.”
More than just an environmental initiative, the project also prioritized community resilience and future sustainability. A key feature of the restoration was constructing a new bridge spanning the newly created floodway, protecting critical infrastructure from potential flood damage. This project helped mitigate further flood damage to the area during Hurricane Helene. “This project not only survived Helene, it has already positively impacted both the local ecosystem and the Boone community. It is a testimony to how resilient natural systems can be in major storm events.” – George Santucci, Sustainability and Special Projects Manager for the Town of Boone.
The Hardin Creek Project aims to restore the natural flow of water by reconnecting this stream to the floodplain giving flood waters a chance to spread out and infiltrate into the floodplain. This will reduce the amount of sediment, pollutants, and trash from entering the river. The floodplain will also aid temperature control by capturing warm, polluted stormwater from impervious surfaces upstream. During winter months, the floodplain capture of stormwater will also cut down on the amount of road salt entering the river.
In addition to managing the project, New River Conservancy recruited approximately 50 volunteers to plant more than 6,000 trees and shrubs to ensure a robust and stable habitat. “Among other problems, unhealthy amounts of sediment from severe erosion brought Hardin Creek to an unhealthy state. With help and support from great partners we have restored this tributary of the New River back into a functional stream that is able to mitigate flooding and provide habitat for fish and wildlife. We look forward to partnering with the Town of Boone and North Carolina Land and Water Fund on other stream restoration projects to create a more sustainable and better future for the New River watershed.” – NRC Director of Operations and Programs, Joe Johnson.
Completed in June 2025, with the installation of the bridge, the Town of Boone has opened the Greenway Trail from the entrance at Daniel Boone Drive Extension to the Watauga High School Cross-Country field alongside the river.
For more information on this project, please contact Joe Johnson, Director of Ops and Project at joe@newriverconservancy.org, or George Santucci, Sustainability and Special Projects Manager at george.santucci@townofboone.net