After about a year of waiting, the Town of Tryon received word it was approved for a $150,000 grant to restore stream banks along the Pacolet River at Harmon Field.

Tryon Town Council met with engineer Joel Link during its December meeting to hear details regarding the work and the grant.

Town manager Joey Davis said the town applied for the grant from the N.C. Department of Natural Resources (DENR) Division of Water Resources last December.

The original grant applied for was $195,000, but DENR approved $150,000. Link revised the scope of work to fit the total grant, according to Davis.

The town’s match to the grant is 50 percent, which the town has committed $4,000 and the remainder will be in town services for the restoration as well as another $10,000 the Pacolet Area Conservancy has agreed to grant to Harmon Field, Davis said.

Link said the funding will be used to stabilize and restore stream banks in sections that are unsightly and causing concern. The work will involve sloping the banks back and installing a native plant species to stabilize them.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for the town to improve a great resource,” Link told Tryon’s board of commissioners.

The restoration will include improved water quality by reducing sediment input and shading of the stream channel, improvement of aquatic and tenestrial habitat, educational opportunities for the community and improved safety and aesthetics for the public, according to the town’s grant application.

“I am pleased to announce that $150,000 in financial assistance for a project located in your town has been approved by the state of North Carolina,” said N.C. Governor Pat McCrory in a letter to the town. “I congratulate the Town of Tryon on its sponsorship of the Harmon Field North Pacolet River restoration project. This grant will provide assistance to the Town of Tryon for stabilizing 1,200 feet of eroding stream banks along the North Pacolet River at Harmon Field recreation area. Your efforts to improve water quality and enhance aquatic habitats are to be commended.”

Link previously worked with Polk Soil and Water on a project in the Hunting Country/Morgan Chapel area of Polk County to restore stream banks, also along the Pacolet. That project restored approximately two miles of stream banks through N.C. Clean Water funding.

Polk Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor Chairman Richard Smith wrote the state in support of the town receiving the grant.

Smith said Harmon Field is one of, if not the most visited, public recreational facility in Polk County and is home to regional events such as the Blue Ridge Barbecue Festival and the Fabulous Fourth of July Bike tour.

“This project fits in to PCSWCD’s (Polk County Soil and Water Conservation District) multi-year plan to conserve and restore the North Pacolet River in North Carolina from its headwaters near Saluda to the North Carolina state line, a distance of 18 river miles,” Smith said in his letter to the Division of Water Resources. “Division of Water Resources funding for this project will help us reach our goal of improving water quality in the river and restore and conserve the North Pacolet River while other funding sources are currently becoming more scarce. This project will link past Water Resource Development and Emergency Watershed Protection projects that have been completed within Harmon Field and upstream near Little House Road.”

Smith said Tryon’s project also has the potential to improve water quality in the hatchery supported trout stream and to provide visitors to the park education information about the importance of stream restoration, water quality and riparian ecosystems.

“Stream banks of the North Pacolet River in Harmon Field are actively eroding, causing detrimental environmental impacts and are a hazard to visitors of the park,” said Smith.

Tryon Community Development Director Paula Kempton said the first phase of the project will be almost all design. She said with all the rain lately, the river is losing a lot of its banks so the town needs to get started on the design. The town will have to go out for bids and then vote on which contractor to hire for the project.

During the December meeting, council approved Link as the engineer for the project. Link plans to submit a contract for council to approve at its next meeting. Council also approved accepting the grant funding during its December meeting.

A couple other sections of the Pacolet River stream banks have been restored in recent years, including another section at Harmon Field and a section by the Lynn bridge.