22. Threats: 



1. Channelization of Duke, Harrell and Raynor Swamps in the 

 watershed above the park. 



2. Logging in Lassiter Swamp. 



3. Logging of hardwood forest remnants on adjacent slopes and 

 uplands. 



4. Further clearing of woodlands for agriculture leading to 

 additional disruption of natural hydrology, 



5. Pollution in the form of nutrient runoff from hog farming 

 operations and agricultural fields. 



6. Pollution in the form of pesticides used in agriculture. 



7. Sedimentation from all sources 



Of the various threats listed above 5 potentially the most 

 damaging would be channelization in any part of the watershed above 

 Merchants Mill Pond and Lassiter Swamp. This region, which already 

 contains the largest area of cleared agricultural land in the 

 county, supplies the mill pond with as much sediment and 

 agricultural chemicals as the system can handle. 



Some 20 yrs ago the Soil Conservation Service and US Army 

 Corps of Engineers proposed to channelize the entire watershed, 

 including all of Duke Swamp and part of Lassiter Swamp. A variety 

 of prechannelization studies studies were done (Pardue et al. 

 1975). In 1979 a meeting was held in the county to present plans 

 and options to all County, State and Federal officials who might 

 be involved. After two days of plan review, on-site inspections 

 and meetings, the concensus was that the damage to water quality, 

 fishing, and wildlife habitat would far outweigh the slight 

 agricultural advantage to be gained. 



Soon after, at a meeting of the landowners involved, it was 

 voted to scrap the project in view of the potentially harmful 

 effects. Officials involved were informed by the Raleigh office 

 of the Soil Conservation Service that they had agreed to drop the 

 project and that a notice to that effect would soon be mailed. A 

 telephone call some months later brought only the information that 

 this was still the intention of the federal agencies. Some two 

 years later, however, no such notice has been received. It may be 

 that the Corps and the SCS are still planning to carry out this 

 destructive project. 

 [NOTE: in a follow-up visit to the Raleigh office of the SCS after 



completion of this study, it was found that this project was 



indeed closed out on September 30, 1981]. 



112 



