<< Back 7/24/02 Group wants Needmore put on table By Don Hendershot A group of environmental organizations has developed a proposed set of changes for the way waterways in the Tuckasegee watershed are managed by Duke Power. The proposal is an answer to a “trial balloon” of new management proposals floated by Duke in March. Both proposals have come out of a stakeholders group which is working with Duke Power as it relicenses its Western North Caroline hydroelectric plants through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Tuckasegee Stakeholders — which presented the proposal at its July meeting — includes American Rivers, American Whitewater, Western North Carolina Trout Unlimited, N.C. Wildlife Federation and the Jackson County government. However, Jackson County Manager Ken Westmoreland said there was no official commissioner sanction of the proposal. He said that he was working with the Jackson County Greenway Commission to include the greenway as part of the plan’s “Indirect Mitigation Efforts.” The Tuckasegee Stakeholders Team, a diverse group of interested parties including private citizens and representatives from local governments, state agencies, civic and home owners organizations and conservation and environmental groups, have been working with Duke Power on its relicensing efforts for more than 18 months. A similar group, the Nantahala Stakeholders Team, is working on relicensing efforts on Duke’s Nantahala hydroelectric projects. The new trial balloon takes a basinwide (Little Tennessee River basin) approach and supports bringing the Nantahala and Tuckasegee teams together. The new proposal also suggests that protection of the Needmore Tract be considered as part of the relicensing. The plan asks that Duke “permanently protect the entire 4,600 acres of the Needmore Tracts on the Little Tennessee River in Swain and Macon counties as a mitigation measure related to all current Duke relicensing projects.” Stakeholders had differing opinions regarding the basinwide approach and the inclusion of Needmore. Doug Odell of Friends of Lake Glenville felt the Tuck group should stick with the area of concern defined in their charter. “The study area will be the East Fork and West Fork of the Tuckasegee River (including Wolf Creek and Tanasee Creek) and the main stem of the Tuckasegee River downstream to Bryson City, not including tributaries unless they are affected by operations of the projects on the East and West Forks,” says the group’s charter. “We’re gonna be swamped in this group and wipe out two years of work,” Odell said. Jeff Lineberger, representing Duke Power, said that Duke welcomed a comprehensive plan. He said that Duke would like to see the Tuckasegee and Nantahala teams combine. Chris Goudreau of N.C. Wildlife Resources echoed Lineberger. He said the plan was “not out of step” and added, “we like a lot of what we see.” Fred Alexander, district manager for Duke Power-Nantahala Area, questioned including Needmore as mitigation in the relicensing effort. He said efforts to preserve the tract were already under way and wondered if including the tract in the relicensing effort could be detrimental to those proceedings. Alexander suggested contacting Bill Gibson of the Southwestern Commission, who is currently negotiating with Crescent Resources on behalf of Swain and Macon counties regarding the plans for Needmore. Members of the coalition presenting the new trial balloon, however, noted that Crescent, which originally announced it would decide the fate of Needmore this spring, has postponed any announcement until November. Other considerations — proposed by American Whitewater — included recreational releases for kayakers in Bona’s Defeat gorge in the East Fork of the Tuckasegee and in the West Fork gorge. The proposal called for two releases, each year, in March into Bona’s Defeat, with the possibility of increasing to six releases per year and 20 yearly releases into the West Fork gorge. The Public Interests-Conservation Counter Proposal was not debated during the July meeting. Specific issues of the proposal will be addressed at later meetings. Proponents noted that the trial balloon was offered in the same spirit as Duke’s proposal in March. The counter proposal states: “As with Duke’s Trial Balloon offered to the Tuckasegee Team, this Conservation/Local Interest Trail Balloon is a preliminary step offered in good-faith to explore ideas and possible resource management solutions. The parties offering this document will not be bound by ideas presented here, in whole or in part, unless they are later incorporated into final agreements.” The Dillsboro Dam was also on the stakeholders agenda. Team members discussed the pros and cons of dam removal, including environmental, cultural and commercial interests. Dillsboro Mayor Jean Hartbarger provided information that supported keeping the dam intact. Other stakeholders listed what they considered the benefits of removing the dam. Hartbarger asked what Duke’s position on the dam was. John Wishon, Duke’s Nantahala relicensing project manager, said Duke was simply trying to establish the mitigation value associated with removing the dam. Lineberger reiterated that Duke had made no decision on the fate of the dam. The group was originally scheduled to complete its recommendations by February 2003. However, in March Duke bumped up the time table, asking the group to have its recommendations ready by the end of November.