Concerns that state environmental regulators are seeking to take property along streams in Western North Carolina without compensating property owners has drawn attention from the General Assembly. Rep. David Guice, R-Transylvania, introduced House Bill 62 to stop the reclassification of Bolyston Creek from a Class C to Class C Trout stream in Transylvania County.
Should the reclassification take place, landowners along the designated areas of the creek would have to leave a 25-foot buffer of the creek bank undisturbed and could, in the view of critics, invite trout fishermen to trespass on private property included in the buffer. The bill is scheduled for consideration Thursday in the House Environment Committee. A companion bill, Senate Bill 64, has not been placed on the Senate schedule.
Bolyston Creek resident Gerry Hunsicker is glad the bill is moving through the legislature. Still, he wants to help other “victims” across the state who unwittingly have been affected after their waterways were reclassified without their knowledge.
Brown Mill Creek resident and landowner Robin Crowe is one of them. He had owned land in Rosman for many years when he decided to clean out the silt choking the waterway that ran through his land. He said repairs were needed because a landfill located upstream produced muddy waters that settled on his lowland property.
While working to solve the problem, however, Crowe received a call from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources office in Asheville and was informed he had violated the conditions of the Class C Trout waters and was threatened with a fine of up to $50,000. The only problem was, this lifelong resident of the area was never informed the water running through his property was reclassified.
“They didn’t ask us,” he said. “There was no public meeting, no vote. They just did what they wanted to do and that was that. I didn’t know the law. No one told me anything until they came after me.”
Although Crowe didn’t have to pay a fine, he spent $7,000 out of his own pocket to restore the banks of the stream to DENR’s specifications.
Mills River Mayor Roger Snider said the general suspicion comes as no surprise after government agencies were secretive in the reclassification process. “They were almost two years into the study of the creek when I happened to find out about it,” Snider said. “No one called me. They should have.”
Besides the distrust of all the government agencies involved, Hunsicker believes there are hidden agendas for naming trout streams across the state. This came after he read an article in the March 2004 edition of Wildlife in North Carolina magazine stating the N.C. Wildlife Commission was looking to acquire corridors and easements for trout fishermen throughout the state at little cost to the agency.
“One million people come to North Carolina to fish each year,” he said. “There are big lobbies out there that are trying to get the land open. They don’t have to buy the property to take total control of it through the Class C Trout Classification.”
Susan Massengale, a spokeswoman for DENR, said there are 1,153 Class C Trout Waters throughout the state. The first designation was made in 1957.
Massengale said that although fishing is permissible in Class C Trout streams, the classification does not allow trespassing or the provision for access to streams on either public or private lands. “Nor does it regulate fishing activities, including seasons, size limits, creel limits and bait and lure restrictions,” she said. “That is handled by the N.C. Wildlife Resources [Commission].”
Hunsicker said that means it’s still at the discretion of a government agency, which ultimately might allow fisherman to use the 25-foot buffer zone to enter someone’s property to fish. Snider agreed, saying most fishermen won’t wait for permission to use the buffer zone to fish on private property.
“All of these trout streams are published in books, magazines, and online,” he said. “It is a concern. The advertisement of this being a trout stream will induce others to trespass. They will have fishermen walking up and down private property without asking permission.”
Karen Welsh is a contributor to Carolina Journal.