20080880 Ver 1_Public Comments_20080720

Cliffs Application
Subject: Cliffs Application
From: Shawn Swartz <[e-mail]>
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:50:21 -0400 (EDT)
To: Loretta. A. [e-mail], [e-mail]
I am writing you to inform you of my opinion that the wetlands and streams (including those that are
perennial, intermittent, and ephemeral) deserve protection within the Cliffs community. They deserve
to be protected where they are, to benefit the ecological system services they are providing to the area
where they are, and the people who depend on them. They should not be allowed to be disturbed in
order to be mitigated elsewhere. I conducted wetland mitigation and restoration work and found our
results to rarely be as successful as the systems we disturbed, and since they were located elsewhere
they did not service the areas we were mitigating. To deteriorate the water quality for the flora, fauna,
and people in our are so that others may move from elsewhere and recreate here is
unacceptable. Further, I lived near a gated community who seriously disturbed the water quality in the
watershed only to go bankrupt in the recent downturn our recent economy is experiencing before more
than a few lots were sold. How are we to know that we will not lose our valuable water quality to the
benefit of no one?
Shawn Swartz
Forest Manager
Warren Wilson College
CPO 6131
PO Box 9000
Asheville, NC 28815-9000
828-771-2068
828-216-6470 cell
[e-mail]
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