DNR News
** Archived Article - please check for current information. **
November 20, 2014Lake Hartwell fisheries habitat improvement underway in cove near Clemson DNR office
The S.C. Department of Natural Resources' first fisheries habitat improvement project on Lake Hartwell resulting from the Twelve Mile Creek PCB settlement is underway at Cherry Crossing cove adjacent to the Clemson DNR office.
The habitat improvements on Lake Hartwell, underway since April, include concrete/rock/wood structures embedded on the lake floor in shallow and deep water, aquatic vegetation, cabled-down trees along the shoreline, bank stabilization and gravel spawning beds.
"The expected benefits of habitat restoration include improved spawning success, an increase in refuge and cover habitat for fish, improved forage activity and erosion control," said Amy B. Chastain, DNR fisheries biologist and coordinator of the habitat improvement project. "We hope that this work will improve recreational fishing considerably in this section of Lake Hartwell."
This project is the result of the 2006 settlement with Schlumberger Technology Corp. for damages to the recreational fisheries in Lake Hartwell due to PCB contamination. The habitat project received $2.8 million from this settlement. The initial phase of the project was purchasing equipment, such as a barge and tractors, and materials for the habitat improvement work at Cherry Crossing cove.
Hazard buoys to alert boaters of underwater structures have been deployed to mark entrance into the habitat improvement area in Cherry Crossing cove. Habitat work on Lake Hartwell is expected to run at least 10 years, according to Chastain, and other coves will be included once the Cherry Crossing cove work is completed, expected by the end of 2014.
When the habitat improvement work moves to a new cove, the Cherry Crossing work area will be the site of a new fishing pier, along with additional parking, that will be constructed near the Clemson DNR office, Chastain said.
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