A public meeting on the work to restore Lake Mattamuskeet is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at the Hyde County Government Complex in Swan Quarter.
The meeting is to focus on implementing the Lake Mattamuskeet Watershed Restoration Plan adopted in 2018 to guide restoration of the lake’s water quality and reduce flooding throughout the watershed. The public can attend the meeting in-person or join virtually.
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Lake Mattamuskeet is the largest natural freshwater lake in the state and is within the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, which attracts a number of wintering waterfowl, breeding songbirds, mammals such as black bear and bobcat, and other wildlife, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2017, because of declining water quality and elevated water levels threatening the lake, Hyde County, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the Fish and Wildlife Service formed a partnership and contracted the North Carolina Coastal Federation to develop the watershed restoration plan.
During the meeting Thursday, engineers with Geosyntec Consultants, a Wilmington-based firm, are expected to share goals and objectives of the watershed-scale model as well as results from their analysis of two engineering alternatives selected in 2021 by stakeholders and Hyde County Board of Commissioners. The consultants also are to provide updates on the work on Outfall Canal.
Fish and Wildlife Service staff are to give an update on monitoring efforts within the lake and review the details of the carp removal project.
Staff from the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina School of Government are to review research examining long-term funding strategies for financing the operations and maintenance of infrastructure associated with actively managing water levels at Lake Mattamuskeet.
Meeting materials are on the North Carolina Coastal Federation website as well as a place to sign up for updates on the plan progress. The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.
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Contact Alyson Flynn with the Coastal Federation with questions at alysonf@nccoast.org.
