Restoration project underway at Muddygut Branch | News

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife is working to restore Muddygut Branch in a project that will provide a new wildlife management area and recreation opportunities when finished.

During the Aug. 26 meeting of the General Assembly’s Interim Capital Projects and Bond Oversight Committee, legislators heard briefly about the project, which will be made possible by a $6.5 million investment by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife through the Fee-In-Lieu-Of (FILO) program.

Rob Lewis, coordinator of the FILO program, told The Paintsville Herald that the FILO program is aimed at cleanup and restoration projects.

“It’s stream and well and aquatic habitat restoration,” he said. “We find, protect and restore aquatic habitat all across the state.”

The funding for the program comes not from tax dollars, but from fees associated with Clean Water Act mitigation permits.

“Say they’re building a new Walmart or a road in the area and it impacts streams and wetlands, we’re able to accept all those fees, put them all together and go out and do big projects … to put that habitat back and protect,” he said.

Lewis said that while Muddygut Branch Creek is not necessarily big enough for fishing, the property will be open for hiking, hunting and similar activities.

“It’ll be accessible as a wildlife management area,” he said. “It’s a new public access point.”

During the legislative committee meeting, Deputy State Budget Director Janice Tomes told legislators that the project will permanently protect more than 17,000 feet of Muddygut Branch’s main stream and its tributaries.

Lewis said that, while the Muddygut Branch property is relatively small, the cleanup and restoration can have downstream effects.

“There may be fish in the stream, small fish or at least the other aquatic habitats that process nutrients and other aquatic organisms that grow and feed the fish in those larger systems,” Lewis said. “You’ve got a permanently protected small watershed that continues to provide good inputs into the larger system.”

The property has been acquired, Lewis said, and the planning and design phase is underway.

“Once we’ve made the acquisition, then we’re going through and assessing what the existing condition is in greater detail,” he said. “We’re working right now with our engineering design consultants on what the restoration plan can be and with regulatory agencies to make sure everyone’s comfortable with what we’re doing and we get the right permits.”

Lewis said that, through this process, there could be some construction underway at the site to restore the aquatic environment, possibly by next year, but more likely in late 2027.

“There are a lot of steps to crawl through,” he said.