County, Riverkeepers at loggerheads on dams

By MIKE MORRISON | The Florida Times-Union

March 13, 2007

BRUNSWICK - Glynn County Public Works Director John Carter is running into beaver dams and government regulations as he tries to restore the county's storm-drainage system.

Carter is removing obstacles that impede the flow of ditches and streams so the county's roads don't flood so badly during heavy rain.

He's learning the hard way that you have to be careful in flowing streams, especially those dammed by lovable flat-tailed rodents with a reputation for hard work.

Efforts to tear out beaver dams that block the Altamaha Canal are now stymied after the Altamaha Riverkeeper complained.

Recently, Carter's crews began removing beaver dams from the historic Altamaha Canal near the Brunswick-Golden Isles Airport. Living up to their reputation for busyness, the beavers had constructed about a dozen dams in a 7- to 8-mile stretch of canal. By design, dams impede the flow of water. Thus, they must go, Carter figured.

Built originally for shipping, the canal is now an important conduit for floodwater, Carter said.

"The dams were completely hindering drainage in that area," he said.

Glynn County knows the consequences of bad drainage. In October 2005, 15 inches of rain fell and backed up in Brunswick and neighborhoods north of the city, flooding roads, homes, schools, cars and parking lots.

The county responded with a program last year to map the drainage system and clean it out.

The Altamaha Canal is part of that drainage system. After Carter gave the go-ahead, crews removed seven dams, with at least another 10 remaining.

That's when Altamaha Riverkeeper James Holland entered the picture.

Holland complained to various environmental regulatory agencies. Eventually, word got to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"The corps called the county administration office, and I've been told to stop," Carter said.

But Carter maintains his department is well within its rights in removing the dams.

"It's our position that we're not violating any laws," he said. "You can pull debris out of a canal. Beaver dams are not natural obstructions. The little rascals create them."

Carter estimates 30 to 40 beavers are responsible for the series of dams.

"We haven't seen them, but we've sure seen the dams. They're on the night shift,'' he said, "and we're on the day shift."

Carter doesn't know what the Riverkeeper's gripe is.

"You would think that removing dams would help the health of a canal," he said.

If the dams were left in place, the canal could degenerate into a series of stagnant pools, he said.

Putting the dirt back in

But Holland and new Coastal Riverkeeper Billie Jo Parker say the issue is not that the dams were removed. It's what was done with the dirt and debris once it was taken out of the stream.

"It just doesn't make sense," Parker said. "Why clean out all these beaver dams if you're just going to dump it back into the stream?"

Indeed, at a location on the canal just off Glynco Parkway, the stub of a dam juts from the bank. Fresh mud is tamped into the bank, and more appears to have been dumped right back into the stream.

A good rain would wash the mud left on the bank back into the water, Holland said.

"They've already altered the ecology of this system," he said. "What they've done is started the dysfunction of the ecology of this system. Who knows how far it will go?"

Loose soil that flows back into the stream during a rainstorm will eventually come to rest someplace else, he said, perhaps causing a deep pool to become shallow and displacing aquatic life.

The canal, Holland said, is a living stream and not a drainage ditch. Its ecology is governed by the flow of the tides and thus permits are required to make any alteration, permits the county didn't have.

Development vs. nature

On a recent afternoon, nature seemed to be in Holland's corner. A bald eagle soared high overhead and a group of fishermen pulled bluegill and largemouth bass out of a deep pool just off the parkway.

But all around, houses, shops and at least one huge shopping center are under construction as Glynn County goes through an unprecedented spurt of growth. Carter's job is to keep the stormwater from backing up into that new development. Holland and Parker are charged with protecting the Altamaha River and coastal waterways.

According to Holland, the county is violating the Clean Water Act and the Erosion and Sedimentation Act. According to Carter, his department is doing what's required under the law to ease the county's drainage problems.

While Holland's complaint goes through channels, Carter's dam removal operation is at a standstill and the beavers are still working.