Unk Ver 1_Staff Comments_19970821

August 21, 1997
MEMORANDUM
TO: John Dorney
FROM: Eric Fleek?
RE: CAMA/Dredge & Fill Review Comments
The subject applicant is T. Vance Chamberlin. He proposes to
initially recover saw logs from the N.E. Cape Fear River which
are "now at or above the bottom of the river," and that
"ultimately the recovery activity may also include logs that are
partially or totally covered by bottom sediment." we are
concerned about the loss of bottom habitat by removal of not only
the desired saw logs but also by the potential removal of non-saw
(i.e. naturally deposited) logs. It seems likely that many of the
targeted saw logs could be confused with these similar NATURALLY
occurring logs. What assurance can he provide that he will not
remove ALL desirable logs encountered and not just limit his
recovery efforts to saw timber logs? If all the desirable logs
are removed from this area, whether they are saw timber or not,
it seems likely that an unacceptable loss of bottom habitat would
result. Also, in the application the estimated area to be
disturbed is listed as "potentially several acres". The applicant
needs to be more specific because if the recovery of saw timber
logs covers several miles of river then this office would object
to the project as proposed. Therefore the applicant needs to
provide a better estimate of the actual area to be disturbed.
In addition, this office would recommend a provision requiring
all recovered logs which are obviously not saw timber logs (e.g.
those which have limbs/branches) must be returned to the bottom.