U.S. Govt. Shutdown and Tiger Beetles Stall Mill Creek Landing Dredging
Year in, year out, the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors seeks ways to address silt and sand that every ten to 12 months returns to blanket the waterside opening of Mill Creek public boat landing in Wake.
Middlesex County Planning and Zoning Director David Kretz reported to supervisors on Oct. 6 that the permit process for a routine maintenance dredge at the landing has been delayed.
The delay is due to the potential presence of northeastern beach tiger beetles on sand dunes east of the landing and a permit review slow down caused by a possible furlough of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel as part of the current U.S. government shutdown.
We thought this was going to be a pretty easy process (to have local contractors perform a maintenance dredge), but it does not appear that it is going to be so easy this time.
Author's summary: Dredging stalled due to tiger beetles and shutdown.