Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge in neighboring Hyde County, North Carolina, hosted an open house from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 20 at the Mattamuskeet High School to provide updates on the Refuge’s management of Lake Mattamuskeet and its canal system.

The presentation came amidst concerns raised by a group of citizens named “Save the Mattamuskeet Lake”.

“Mattamuskeet was, without challenge, the best fresh-water fishery in the southeastern United States yielding unbelievable largemouth bass, bluegill, channel catfish, and other fresh water species for many, many decades.

Channelization by Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge has and is changing that.  Our fresh-water fishery has collapsed.  Salt-water intrusion is choking the waters.  Water depth has reached the point that fishermen can no longer float a boat on the 30,000 acres of the lake,” reads a statement on the group’s website.

The group has a list of actions that they want the US Fish and Wildlife Service to take to stop the mismanagement of the Lake:

-Pin the gates to cease drainage of fresh-water and re-establish reasonable water levels.

-Immediately install the flash-board risers (stoplogs) in the Waupoppin and Lake Landing canals as specified by Refuge Manager Bruce Freske.

 -Maintain interior lake water levels to stop the unnecessary and destructive input of toxic salt water.

Various officials from the Lake Mattamuskeet Technical Working Group attended the open house to discuss management practices around the Lake.

Presentations
Pete Campbell, Project Leader at the Mattamuskeet, Swanquarter, Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex, began the Open House with discussion of actions that the Lake Mattamuskeet Technical Working Group has been implementing.

“We had a meeting back in November where we tried to get at least a subset of folks up to speed representing different interests about what was going on. This is a follow-up meeting for the broad public and we intend to have more of these as we go along,” said Campbell.

Campbell emphasized that he and other officials are guided by the primary purpose of the Refuge when it was established which emphasizes the protection and conservation of migratory birds and other wildlife resources through the protection of wetland habitats.

“Those migratory birds include waterfowl, wading birds, shorebirds, ospreys, and eagles. Examples of other priority wildlife resources include herring and the American eel,” said Campbell.
A 2008 Comprehensive Conservation Plan also provides a blueprint for guidance on management practices.

Management of the Refuge also has to comply with rules that were put through by a state court.

Campbell stated that the Refuge officials have done a good job managing waterfowl numbers.

“As an example just back in December, we had 230,000 ducks, geese, and swans on the Refuge. That has been the standard over the last several years. It was a little bit of an anomaly but we recorded a little bit over 364,000 birds in January,” said Campbell.

Campbell said that he formed the Lake Mattamuskeet Technical Working Group to guide how to move forward with management priorities.

The group is comprised of waterfowl, and fisheries biologists, academic researchers, hydrologists, water quality specialists, and Refuge Management.

The group will meet periodically and support the Refuge as they develop a way forward with management of the Lake.

The group met in March to develop a timeline for implementing management practices for issues like maintaining water quality and fish populations.

Various projects are underway this year to try to meet the Technical Working Group’s stated objectives.

One project that Campbell mentioned involved the Lake Landing, Outfall, and Waupoppin tides gates on Lake Mattamuskeet being retrofitted to minimize saltwater intrusion into the lakeside canal system.

New gate openers were being installed to clean out debris and new wing walls at Outfall and Lake Landing were being in place to prevent overwash during storm events.

The seals inside the bays on the tide gates were being replaced and silicon gaskets were being installed to reduce leakage.

This project had a scheduled completion date of June 2014.

John Stanton, a supervisory wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Southeast Region, Division of Migratory Birds, gave a presentation on waterfowl numbers on Lake Mattamuskeet with Doug Howell, a waterfowl biologist for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

“Our findings were that population numbers have increased over the last several years. They are utilizing the lake and impoundments for over-wintering,” said Stanton.

Stanton and Howell’s presentation also focused on submerged aquatic vegetation and its relationship to the lake’s ecology.

Stanton stated that the east end of Lake Mattamuskeet had very abundant submerged aquatic vegetation.

“Last year’s survey indicated that around 76 percent of the eastern end was covered. The western side had 13 percent coverage. This is a decline from the past. We are very interested in exploring the causes and effects of this,” said Stanton.

Stanton mentioned that he and other officials were trying to use water quality monitoring to try to find out some of the factors that might be affecting the submerged aquatic vegetation.

“Through monitoring we find out a lot of different things. For example we know that if light cannot penetrate through the water column, submerged aquatic vegetation cannot grow. It needs the light of photosynthesis,” said Stanton.

Background
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service states on their website that in the early 20th century, farmers and developers attempted to drain Lake Mattamuskeet, building the world’s largest pumping plant at the time. The Lake was drained for certain periods to convert the Lake bottom to farmland. Eventually the effort was abandoned as impractical and too expensive.

After the U.S. Government acquired the land in 1934 to establish the Refuge, the Civilian Conservation Corp converted the former pumping plant into a hunting lodge that was operated until 1974. The Mattamuskeet Lodge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and it was transferred to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission in 2007.

A fact sheet issued by the Fish and Wildlife Service states that Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge has 50,180 acres that consists of open water, marsh, forest, and croplands.

The fact sheet states the centerpiece of the Refuge is the shallow Lake Mattamuskeet. At 40,1000 acres, it is North Carolina’s largest natural lake.

The Refuge’s strategic location along the Atlantic Flyway makes it a vitally important site for migrating and wintering waterfowl. Over the past 35 years, up to 80 percent of the Northern Pintail and up to 30 percent of Green-wing Teal that annually migrate along the Flyway utilize Mattamuskeet. In total, the Refuge attracts more than 200,00 ducks, geese, and swan from November through February.

A system of 14 manmade wetland impoundments totaling nearly 2,5000 acres surround the south, east, and west sides of the lake, providing feeding and resting areas for wintering waterfowl and many other species of migratory birds as well as resident wildlife. Pumps and water control structures control the impoundments. A variety of trees contribute to the diversity of the habitat on the Refuge.

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Next week’s issue of the Scuppernong Reminder will focus on the remainder of the presentation by the Technical Working Group and some reactions to issues regarding the Lake.