Union County Lake Proposal
Benefits to suffering area would be multifaceted
By WILLIAM B. JETER | For the Spartanburg
Herald-Journal
Reprinted with permission of the Spartanburg Herald Journal
December 5, 2004
|
William B. Jeter |
Patriots Lake is a proposed 5,000-acre lake in
Union County that would provide a diverse habitat for wildlife,
recreation, water supply and flood control. The idea of building a
lake in the Union County area is not new. In the 1930s, serious
consideration was given to damming the Enoree and Broad rivers, and
in the 1970s, a group of individuals proposed a large lake at or
near the Pacolet and Broad rivers.
The current effort to create a lake actually
started in the 1980s. Spartanburg resident Marshall Jordan fostered
the idea to expand recreational opportunities in our national
forestlands. While unsuccessful at the time, his efforts and the
efforts of the Union County citizens who worked with him were not in
vain.
In February 2003, a group of civic and business
leaders met to discuss ways to improve Union County. Based on the
presentations, a committee was formed to discuss the building of a
lake. The committee made a formal presentation in June of that year
to the Union County Development Board and to members of Union city
and county councils.
Our strategy was to inform the public of the
beneficial impact a lake would have on our community and the
surrounding counties. We traveled throughout the Piedmont and made
our presentations to civic clubs, town councils, city councils,
county councils, local political leaders, state leaders,
congressional
leaders and a host of other individuals and
groups.
Our committee's efforts are paying off. Today, the
Union County Lake Project has reached the point that funding has
been committed for the necessary preliminary studies by the Army
Corps of Engineers.
Before Patriots Lake is built, it will and must be
subjected to rigorous reviews by state and federal environmental and
land management agencies. This will be an extensive process but one
the lake can meet.
Patriots Lake would be located on the northern
boundary of the forest and just south of the city of Union. The
Tyger River and Fairforest Creek would be dammed to create a
5,000-acre lake. The lake would have almost 70 miles of shoreline
with a capacity estimated to be more than 46 billion gallons of
water. Limited development is possible, and the recreational
opportunities would be extensive.
The proposed lake would be largely within land
owned by the federal government and managed by the U.S. Forest
Service and known as the Sumter National Forest, which consists of
365,000 acres in Abbeville, Chester, Edgefield, Fairfield,
Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, Newberry, Oconee, Saluda and Union
counties. This land is commonly referred to as a "production
forest." It is managed for its timber production, which is marketed,
harvested and sold on a continuous basis. The Forest Service is also
committed to offering the public as much access in the forest as
possible for recreation. The Forest Service does an outstanding job
in fulfilling these sometimes conflicting objectives.
By way of background, the Sumter National Forest
does not comprise virgin lands that have never been cleared for
farming. It came into being during the 1930s. Tens of thousands of
acres were bought by the U.S. government from people who could no
longer afford to farm their land, in some cases for as little as
three or four dollars an acre. Those who could not make enough money
from farming to pay the real estate taxes on their land during the
Depression were happy to get whatever they could.
Congress has continued to appropriate funds to
acquire additional land. As recently as the past year, more than 700
acres were bought in Union County to add to the U.S. Forest Service
inventory. At present, approximately 20 percent of Union County is
owned by the U.S. government as Forest Service lands.
In the meantime, the economy of Union County has
stagnated. The textile industry, which sustained so many of our
people, will survive, if at all, in greatly diminished form. Areas
to the north and west of us, in Spartanburg, Greenville and Anderson
counties, have secured a host of high-value-added jobs. But the
spinoffs from industries like BMW have largely failed to reach us in
Union County. We have become a zone of underdevelopment between the
Piedmont industrial belt and the government-supported economy of
Columbia and the Midlands.
What is going to keep Union County from falling
into an economic crisis, where real estate values collapse and young
people are forced to emigrate to find jobs? Are we destined to
become a rural slum, where the principal "industry" is housing
people on public assistance?
Not if the people of Union County and the entire
region have anything to say about it. And we have a say. We live in
America, not a country controlled by special interests who seek to
undermine what the people want. Our committee and the thousands of
citizens throughout the entire region who have expressed their
support are determined to see this lake project through.
The proposed Patriots Lake would provide the kind
and number of jobs required to attract and retain people in order to
grow our economy. More than 20 million people live within 200 miles
of Union, and many of them are in the market for the kind of
recreational opportunities a 5,000-acre lake can provide.
In addition to those who would come for a weekend
or a week of fishing and boating, the proposed lake would be a focus
for full-time retirement residents. All these people would be in
need of goods and services. Jobs would be created in the
construction industry, retail services, medical care and a long list
of other categories.
In addition to the obvious economic benefits that
would flow into the local economy from a large recreational lake,
there is a potential for other favorable consequences that would
affect the entire lower Piedmont region. South Carolina is one of
the fastest growing states in America in terms of percentage
population increase. People need water. Until recently, South
Carolina had so much water that its supply has not been a matter of
public concern, however, at the end of the past decade and at the
beginning of this decade, the region suffered from a serious
drought.
When the next drought hits, will Union be able to
get water from Spartanburg? Don't count on it. Will Spartanburg
itself have enough water? As we speak, Spartanburg is embroiled in a
controversy with Polk County, N.C., over the waters of the upper
Broad River. But with a new 5,000-acre reservoir in Union County,
there will be available to the entire lower Piedmont an abundant
alternate supply.
Many people who have had the project explained to
them react by saying, "Great idea! Why would anyone oppose a project
like this, particularly if the required funding can be found?" How
can anyone lose if only 5,000 acres of presently underutilized
government land is converted into a recreational magnet and a
reserve water supply?
Worried about loss of wildlife habitat? Well,
aren't additional fish and waterfowl as much wildlife as deer and
turkey? Worried about loss of acreage from the Sumter National
Forest? The land required for this lake represents approximately 1½
percent of the Sumter National Forest, and the proceeds of sale or
exchange of just a small portion of shoreline owned by the federal
government would provide enough money for the Forest Service to
purchase far more land than the acreage that would be inundated.
Worried about uprooting people from their homes to
make way to build the lake? No problem. The total of the displaced
people would be zero. If you think about the new people who could
live in retirement and other homes near or on the roughly 20 percent
of the shoreline that would be developed, the population of the lake
area would rise to a considerable number.
There are some environmental interest groups that
have expressed concerns. Their positions should never be dismissed.
They need to be respectfully and honestly engaged in an objective
dialogue based on science and facts. Their involvement is necessary
as we work through the process. The committee and the citizens of
this area want and need their support and input. The secret of
success in this country is finding a solution through reasonable
discussion that produces a positive outcome for everyone.
We face a unique opportunity to provide for our
future. Augmented water supply, fishing, boating, parks and economic
development. This lake will provide these benefits plus much more.
When Patriots Lake is built, our entire region will have a valuable
and diverse resource that will be enjoyed for generations to come.
(Hey, did our committee say anything about goin'
fishing? Please support this project hook, line and sinker.)
William B. Jeter is chairman of the Union County
Lake Project.
Proposed Lake for
Sumter National Forest
Reprinted with permission of the Union Daily Times
June 17, 2004
By RALPH GREER Union Daily Times Staff Writer
Union County citizens who would like to see a lake built in the
Sumter National Forest can play a part in getting the attention of
forestry officials by letting them know they support the project.
The U.S. Forest Service is required by federal law to come up with a
10-year management plan for the national forests and the deadline
for submitting public comment is July 3.
A committee headed by William Jeter has been established by the
Union County Development Board to study a proposal for a lake
covering more than 5,000 acres that could be built mainly in the
national forest. The lake would be fed by damming the Tyger River
and Fairforest Creek.
Jeter said if the lake is approved an estimated $50 million to
$60 million in timber would be cut from the lake site of which a
portion could be used to construct the dam. He said the lake would
also allow Rose Hill Plantation State Park to be enlarged to include
a marina and other recreational facilities.
The idea of such a lake was first presented in 1989 when the
Sumter National Forest conducted a survey that showed fishing and
boating were the number one recreational needs in the county and
surrounding areas. The idea was dropped when it met opposition on up
the line of authority but four small fishing ponds in the forest
near Sedalia were built as a result.
Jeter says the success of the project will require support from
everyone, from the man on the street to some of the highest
political offices in the land. We need for everyone to become
involved, Jeter said. It can be done; it will take time and hard
work, but it can be done.
Union County Lake Project
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