To the editor:

In regard to the July 27, 2016 piece entitled, “N.C. Wildlife to dredge Lake Adger Marina channel,” in the Tryon Daily Bulletin, I deeply appreciate the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission (WRC), working along with County Manager Marche Pittman and concerned citizens, doing the right thing – initiating the dredging of our Lake Adger public marina boating access channel. In doing so, Polk County preserves this vital recreational asset and WRC fulfills its promise and obligation.

I realize that 91 years’ worth of sedimentation flowing down the Green River into Lake Adger is no small matter. In fact it is a ‘watershed scale’ large problem which calls for matching ‘watershed scale’ long-term solutions. Preventing sedimentation from getting into the lake in the first place, through erosion controls and upstream dredging operations, will be essential for long-term viability of the lake and to protect the investment that WRC is putting into dredging the boating access channel. Could it be that our large scale problems and needs are really just opportunities in disguise?

The point is, we are now moving in the right direction to address problems with sedimentation and protecting public access to Lake Adger … Stakeholders are starting to problem solve together. I encourage and challenge all of us to continue with collaborative works that help to protect our lake as a fishery, public recreational area and water resource.

This is a watershed moment when we realize that nobody wins until we all do. Let’s go together for the greatest water good benefiting us all.

~ Sky Conard, Mill Spring, N.C.