UNICOI COUNTY, Tenn. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing a plan by railroad company CSX to restore the banks of the Nolichucky River. It comes after the company was issued a notice of violation for pulling rock from the river to repair rail lines damaged by Helene.
The draft plan doesn’t include returning the rock CSX took but instead creating the conditions for it to return naturally.
CSX proposes to use excavators to decompact what remains of the banks and grade vertical slopes. The company would then dig logs into the banks at an angle, and plant new vegetation using native species…