Open House Held at Lock & Dan #1

U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District held an Open House at Lock & Dam #1 Saturday to show interested neighbors and other users what the construction, now underway, involves and what the results will be.

The boat launch and picnic area is closed to the public for the duration of the project in the Cape Fear River.  Recreation vessels, including canoes and kayaks, will be able to transit the area, via the lock or by portage, on a very limited basis.  Reservations should be made well in advance.

The project involves repairing a 40 foot deep scour hole from almost a hundred years of water pouring over the low-head dam.  If uncorrected, this could ultimately lead to dam failure, according to a news release from the Corps of Engineers.

Phil Edge and Susan Clizbe
US Corps of Engineer Employees 

The project is expected to cost around $3 million and is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). 

Work began June 21.  As many as 50 heavy trucks a day will deliver rock fo the project.  Work will be ongoing six days a week, twelve hours a day.

There are three lock and dams on the Cape Fear River, all in Bladen County. Over the years, travel on the river has gone from commercial to recreational. Oldtimers tell of days when logs were strapped together and floated down the river to their final destination.  Petroleum products were moved up the river from the port at Wilmington.

Today most of the users are for recreational purposes.  Recently, a Fayetteville based tour boat was added.

Another important role for the #1 locks is it serves as a barrier for salt water intrusion.

Fish travel up the river from the later part of March until July 1.  If the river is high, many fish can maneuver on their own by going over the dam, some cannot and if the river is low, none can get upstream.  Lock & dams #1 and #2 are open to help with spawning.

As with other agencies, lack of funding in recent years has cut back on manpower.  Today a single lockmaster is in charge of three sites.  Phil Edge of Cumberland County has 21 years on the job.  

Tom Charles will be the first Park Ranger for the 3 sites.  He will be on the job in mid August.

Future plans call for the Navy to return in September for training on the river.

Long range plans will likely see the Corps turning control of sites on the Cape Fear River over to the state of North Carolina. 

To book lockage, call Lockmaster Edge at 910-483-7746 or Tom Charles at 910-874-0883.

For more information on the Cape Fear River and other Corps of Engineers projects along the eastern seaboard click on www.saw.usace.army.mil.