SWAN QUARTER — Plans to renovate and reopen Mattamuskeet Lodge continue to stall, but some Hyde County residents are now working to push the process forward.

County officials and a group of residents recently approached the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission about a potential private/public partnership, according to Jodie Owen, communications director for the Wildlife Education Division.

“We have updated our floor plans based on this kind of partnership and cost estimates to complete the project,” she said. “Hyde County has also made some progress on an economic analysis for the lodge if it were completed and operational.”

Mattamuskeet Lodge is a 100-year-old building located on Lake Mattamuskeet, and was deeded back to the state by Congress in 2006. The building was once a large pump station but became a hunting lodge in the 1930s, according to the lodge’s website.

Efforts to renovate the building by the Resources Commission and the Department of Cultural Resources began in 2006, as part of the Lake Mattamuskeet Lodge Renovation Project, but the efforts have been put on hold until the funds can be allocated, the website stated.

Owen said Phase I and II of the three-phase renovation were completed in 2010.

“Those phases were focused on abatement and structural rehabilitation of the building. Since then, there has not been much progress on the project due to a lack of funding,” she said.

Owen said the newest proposal for a private/public partnership was sent to legislators, but there has yet to be any word on whether funding is available.

“We are currently waiting to see if they provide any funding for the project so we can move forward with this type of scenario and perform the rest of the work at the lodge,” she said.

For more information, visit www.mattamuskeetlodge.com.