20060385 Ver 1_Public Comments_20060427

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Dkp - 0385
4/25/06
Aboard US-Flag containership
"Sealand Achiever"
Bound from Freeport, GB, to Houston, TX
(Via Email to Jenny Irvin)
Mr. David Baker
US Army Corps of Engineers
151 Patton Avenue, Room 208
Asheville, NC 28801-5006
Reference: Public Notice Corps Action ID#: 200630708
To Whom it May Concern:
It has come to my attention that Forge Cove, LLC, represented by
Mr. Robert Johnson of Jacksonville, FL, is seeking Army Corps of
Engineers authorization to dam, fill, and inundate segments of Osborne
Branch in order to create a "scenic recreation lake" to be named Forge
Cove Lake, as part of Forge Cove subdivision off Sutton Creek Road in
Transylvania County. Unfortunately, we heard of this through a
neighbor from a different subdivision, as no one on our road has
received any mail regarding this notice. We found out about this the
evening of Monday, April 24, 2006.
I live, and have lived most of my life, downstream of this planned
lake and subdivision. I have depended upon the waters of Osborne Branch
for many reasons over the course of my life, and have raised a family
that now also depends upon those waters and the living resources
therein, and near to, this waterway. The waters of Osborne Branch not
only support fish and wildlife that I have depended upon for
recreation, sustenance and quality of life, but also supply several
ponds. Two of these ponds are on my family's land, and have been
traditionally stocked with fish from which we have taken long-term
sustenance and recreation. My wife and I have, in fact, planned to
raise trout as a business to sustain us in our retirement. We have also
researched and planned powering our home using the waters of Osborne
Branch to provide electrical power. There is also a rich and varied
community of animal wildlife downstream from the planned Forge Cove
Lake and subdivision, which also depends upon the pristine, natural,
and unadulterated waters of Osborne Branch. We have come to depend upon
this wildlife, also, in our own lives.
For the reasons above, but not limited to them, we live where we
live; and Osborne Branch in its present state and condition has been
central to the decision to live there. Many of my family also have
lived, and others plan to live, on Holland Road and Little Sharpy
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Mountain family-owned lands. Osborne Branch in its present state and
condition is also central to their decision to live there.
I am currently employed as a Merchant Marine Deck Officer, and am
presently assigned to a US-Flag container ship. I cannot personally be
home to investigate, comment, or object to the planned damming and
interruption of Osborne Branch; and the consequences that this would
certainly bring upon us downstream. I firmly believe that Osborne
Branch will suffer from this planned action. Were I able to interrupt
my employment at this time, I would most certainly object strenuously
to the planned damming and interruption of Osborne Branch. I know of NO
other waterway that has been similarly altered that has not suffered
damage and been degraded from its former natural state and condition.
The filling of the planned Forge Cove Lake by itself will deprive my
pond of feed- and circulation- water, which will in turn kill off
my trout stock. With the land upstream, in and around the planned Forge
Cove subdivision, stripped of trees and the natural layers of earth and
rock altered, moved, and removed; it is obvious that storm-waters won't
behave the same as they have in the past. One has only to recall the
storms and flooding of 2004, which occurred down Osborne Branch WITH
totally natural landscape and vegetation, to imagine what will happen
when similar or worse storms bring as much or more water downstream
withOUT said landscape and vegetation. Those damages were so
devastating that this area was declared a Federal Disaster Area. The
planned subdivision will necessarily strip acreage of absorbing natural
earth and features, and will substitute acreage of roofs, lawns,
roadways, and other man-made features that will promote
runoff rather than absorption. The consequences of storms or flooding,
for those of us downstream, will certainly be worse after the planned
construction than prior to it.
I hereby object in the most strenuous terms to the planned damming
of, alteration to, and degradation of Osborne Branch, which I consider
to be the inevitable result of the planned construction of Forge Cove
Lake. I ask you to consider the ramifications to all of us downstream,
and to ask yourself "Is it worth it?" to justify the creation of a man-
made "scenic lake" in order to raise property-values for the planned
subdivision. I also wish to go on record as depending upon Osborne
Branch as it now exists for the present quality of my life, and that of
my family's; and that I will seek legal recourse available from all
parties contributing to, supporting, or authorizing the mentioned
planned construction if said quality of life is degraded by the damming
of, alteration of, or degradation of Osborne Branch.
Can't it be enough to enjoy this waterway in its natural state and
condition, as has been done by us downstream for so long?
I hereby ask my wife, Jenny Irvin, to disseminate this letter to
anyone concerned in the planned endeavor of Forge Cove subdivision and
the planned Forge Cove La
same before damage is don
times, I feel that there
example to prove that the
in its influence upon us
Respectfully submitted,
Sam Irvin, Ch/Mate
Sealand Achiever
105 Irvin Road
Pisgah Forest, NC 28768
ke in an effort to prevent construction of
e that cannot be undone. In these days and
is enough knowledge, history, research, and
planned construction can only be destructive
living downstream from same.
Cc: Mr. Robert Johnson - Forge Cove, LLC
Ms. Jennifer Robertson - Wetland & Natural Resource Consultants
Ms. Cyndi Karoly - NCDWQ