20210727_NCWRC

® North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission 9
Cameron Ingram, Executive Director
MEMORANDUM
TO: Adam Parr, Assistant Mining Engineer
NCDEQ, Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources
FROM: Andrea Leslie, Mountain Region Coordinator
Habitat Conservation Program
DATE: July 27, 2021
SUBJECT: Mining Permit Modification for Town of Lake Lure
Morse Park, MP 81-10, Rutherford County
Biologists with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) reviewed the
application to modify the permit for the Morse Park site in Rutherford County. Our comments
on this permit action are offered for your consideration under provisions of the Mining Act of
1971 (as amended, 1982; G.S. 74-46 through 74-68; 15 NCAC 5) and the North Carolina
General Statutes (G.S. 113-131 et. seq.).
The Town of Lake Lure is requesting a permit modification to affect an additional 42 acres, with
the total work area being 106 acres. The majority of this area is the upper end of Lake Lure,
which is proposed for mechanical dredging on the west side of the project area and hydraulic
dredging on the east side. Hydraulically dredged sediment would be pumped to a set of two
settling basins set in series and the resulting sediment stockpiled and eventually trucked to an
off -site spoil location. The mechanically dredged sediment would be placed in the stockpile area
to dry and trucked to the off -site spoil location. Super silt fence would surround the treatment
areas and stockpile areas.
Lake Lure drains to the Broad River, which supports an excellent Smallmouth Bass fishery
downstream of the lake. Native mussels and other native fish species are highly impacted below
the dam, but the community starts to recover more than 4 miles downstream. It is important to
control any sediment loss from activities to the Broad River in order to protect these species and
their habitat.
We recommend using silt fence in the areas that will be mechanically dredged to isolate the
dredging areas from any streams in the dredge area. In addition, turbidity should be monitored
Mailing Address: Habitat Conservation • 1721 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1721
Telephone: [phone] • Fax: [phone]

MP 81-10 Lake Lure Page 2 July 27, 2021
Rutherford County
daily to ensure that dredging activities are not resulting in turbidity levels above the state
standard; if turbidity levels do rise above the state standard, dredging should cease and actions
should be taken to address turbidity issues.
No information is provided about the off -site spoil location. This location should be surrounded
with silt fence, as well, and stabilized with a non-fescue/lespedeza seed mix.
Thank you for the opportunity to review this permit action. Please contact me at [phone]
if you have any questions about these comments.
ec: Mitchell Anderson, NC Division of Water Resources
Brenda Harris and Shawna Riddle, DEMLR