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Residents oppose OWASA logging plan

Posted on December 2, 2010December 2, 2010 by Staff

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Hillsborough At a heated public forum attended by about 150 people at the Maple View Agricultural Center Tuesday evening, county residents told Orange Water and Sewer Authority administrators they strongly oppose the utility’s forest-management plan for 1,900 acres in Orange and Chatham counties.
Throughout the meeting, attendees held signs that read “No more OWASA logging,” shouted questions at OWASA administrators and repeatedly asked OWASA to revise the plan.
David Halley, owner of True North Forest Management Services, the company hired by OWASA to develop and implement the plan, said the plan breaks up the 1,900 acres into 17 properties with different types of forests, including areas around Cane Creek, Mt. Mitchell, Thunder Mountain and other parts of Orange and Chatham counties. Halley said the plan includes protection for riparian buffers and involves hardwood and pine thinnings, cutting of low-quality trees, small group opening harvests, controlled burnings of understory and reforesting. It also includes clear cuts in some areas and herbicide control of hardwood sprouts and weed species.
Residents expressed strong opposition to the plan, citing concerns about the use of herbicides, the effects of clear cuts on wildlife, the disruption caused by forestry operations and the effects of the plan on drinking water.
“I think that OWASA has lost its compass,” Michael Hughes said. “I think the plan is misguided.”
Several residents also expressed concern that they had not been informed about the plan or the meeting and called for more time to provide feedback. The public-comment period for the plan was scheduled to close today (Thursday), but OWASA board members indicated they would likely vote to extend the period at their Dec. 9 meeting.
“There are multiple objectives, competing objectives, and we’re trying to balance that in a way that makes sense,” said Patrick Davis, OWASA sustainability manager.
OWASA’s primary objective for the plan, according to authority officials, is to protect water quality. Other objectives include establishing and maintaining riparian buffers, enhancing forest conditions, minimizing the impact of forestry-management activities on adjacent properties, restoring and enhancing the overall quality of OWASA-owned woodlands and generating revenue through sustainable timber harvests.
According to Halley, about 500 acres of the plan area are protected as riparian buffers.
Concerns
Residents said they were skeptical of OWASA’s motives, given that no financial analysis was included with the plan. Davis said the authority had not yet run the numbers, but that that information would be made available to residents.
Mac Clarke, chair of the OWASA board’s finance committee, said the plan strives to be cost-neutral.
“We don’t want to make money, we don’t want to lose money,” he said. “It’s almost impossible to set up any project just to break even…. The thing we want to avoid are losses.”
Jim Warren said he felt that allowing True North to conduct both the assessment and implementation of the plan presented a conflict of interest.
“I don’t have any problem with True North making a living. You guys have got to do it, but frankly this was a bad mistake hiring a company to do the assessment that you then would hire to do the work,” Warren said.
Derb Carter, who works with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the plan focused too much on economics and not enough on science.
“What we have here is a plan that’s driven by the lowest priority,” he said. “I saw the word ‘overmature.’… That’s purely an economic term. That has no basis in science or ecology at all.”
Robin Mulkey said she was concerned that the plan applied some of the Jordan Lake Rules to its riparian buffers, some of which are listed at 50 feet.
“I find it very ironic we’re using rules for Jordan Lake. The reason we have Cane Creek Reservoir is because OWASA said Jordan’s water wasn’t good enough for them,” she said. “The quality wasn’t good enough, but the rules were good enough.”
Alex Hessler, one of the few speakers from the audience who wasn’t completely opposed to the plan, drew boos from some audience members.
“I’m not opposed to logging and I’m not necessarily for all logging,” he said. “I just want to urge you to recognize that timber harvest is an important thing. It’s a vital thing.”
The OWASA board meets Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. at the OWASA Administrative Building at 400 Jones Ferry Road.

1 thought on “Residents oppose OWASA logging plan”

  1. D L Nichols says:
    December 2, 2010 at 12:28 pm

    I live in SW Orange County and only learned about this meeting by word of mouth and did not know the location of the meeting even in order to attend. I am very disappointed in the limited time for public comment and public feedback to this very important issue. SW Orange County keeps getting the curve balls thrown at us.

    Seems like we have to dodge bullets after bullets, i.e., the airport, the transport station. And then there is the sewage sludge on the farmland of Orange County. Please give us more time to consider this. I was not notified until the very last moment.

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