State and federal environmental officials toured the wetlands mitigation project near the Wal-Mart Distribution Center Friday, at the request of the Greene County Hunting & Fishing Club.

The Middle Nolichucky Watershed Alliance was also involved, because that group is interested in helping the club to maintain the county-owned wetlands, and many of those present represent their organization on the Alliance board.

The club entered into an agreement with the county to maintain the created 40-acre wetlands soon after it was built.

In general, state and federal laws protect wetlands because such areas are seen as naturally filtering and purifying ground water, while at the same time providing “nurseries” for a wide variety of land and aquatic wildlife species.

Greene County agreed to create the Wal-Mart wetlands to compensate or “mitigate” for a small existing tract of wetlands that was destroyed when the distribution center was built.

The county’s agreement was part of the overall enticement package used to persuade Wal-Mart to locate the facility here.

Earlier this year, Fred Kaufmann , who represents the club on the Alliance, told members of the Watershed Alliance’s board that the dam that impounds water to create the wetlands is failing, and the club needs help in maintaining it. Alliance board members decided to consider trying to not only maintain the wetlands, but to enhance it, by introducing more wetlands plant species, and perhaps creating a shelter or otherwise facilitating its use as an “outdoor classroom.”

It was agreed that a good first step would be to have available experts walk over the property, to assess its condition.

On Friday, David Hale of the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation, Jim McAfee of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Joe McMahan, a regulatory specialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers out of the Lenoir City field office, Fred Kaufmann of the club, John B. Jones of TVA, Roy Settle of the Appalachian Resource Conservation & Development Council and Ken Chase of the Boone Watershed Partnership in Sullivan County, walked over the site.

The site includes land that was formerly pasture, now characterized by willows, bulrushes and Canary rushes, as well as a “bottomland hardwood forest,” as Hale described it. The forest is made up of willow, ash, pin oak and black oak, Hale said. Seven-Springs Creek flows through the property.

McMahan said he was present because the Corps of Engineers regulates wetlands under the Clean Water Act. He said that any significant change in the wetlands would require that agency’s approval. At the end of the tour, McMahan said that most likely the Corps of Engineers would permit any improvements and enhancements that the organization agrees to do.

He said it is “always good to see” any organization that wants to enhance wetlands. McMahan said most of his efforts go toward keeping wetlands from being destroyed.

McAfee and Hale agreed Friday that drainage ditches that remain from when the land was used for crops are a hindrance to the growing of wetlands plants, because they continue to partially drain the land. It was generally agreed that the ditches need to be dammed up, and probably filled in.

Settle and others said that damming the drainage ditches with a series of log dams may be the solution, because the logs will be effective and will degrade over time, which will itself enhance the wetland habitat.

McAfee said that the open land and the hardwood forest that are part of the property are actually two different types of ecosystems, which is a plus, because typically, birds and other wildlife are attracted to places where ecosystems abut and overlap.

Jones said that the Tennessee Department of Forestry might have something to offer to the enhancement effort, and McAfee agreed.

McAfee said Friday, as he has told the Alliance board before, that the lack of access to the tract needs to be addressed before any other efforts.

Currently, there is no road access to the wetlands property, and it must be reached either directly from the Wal-Mart Distribution Center parking lot, or from the parking lot of a warehouse nearby. Access from Wal-Mart now requires crossing a creek and wading through a marshy area.

McAfee said it does not make sense to expend any effort until a permanent, legal access is in place.