Cooper river in danger

[Claimer]

I just heard from someone in the know that gov Sanford is trying to allow the people who own land bordering the ricefields to dike them back in. These lands are privately held and taxed but they became public water when the dikes were breached and they wern't fixed. For the average hunter the cost of doing this is out of question but most land owners have the means to complete this. Can someone find out if this is true.

[OffshoreDuck21]

It might screw up the public hunter, but maybe it will be bring ducks back on the river, in the long run.

[JABIII]

"These lands are privately held and taxed "

Then they should be able to do anything that they like with them....

[Claimer]

The taxes are miniscule and could be paid by a bag boy at foodlion. They are and have been public for at least 50 years so ownership is iffy at best. Also the damage to the river when the work begins would be staggering.

[OffshoreDuck21]

Is the Corps getting involved? Is there going to be a Environmental Impact Study done?

[trigger]

Oh bullshit Claimer. The Corps will never allow anything to damage the river to the point that it would be "staggering". Just more scare tactics from Socialist minded Amerikans who want what the other half has but aren't willing to work or pay for.

[Ring King]

Mulberry Plantation has had this in the works for some time now. They want to enclose the north Mulberry section from the point to the house. One part of the island chain has already had some work done. Not sure if the water had broken all the way through the island or if it was just in the process of doing so, but you could see the fresh earth where they had done the work.

[Catdaddy]

Originally posted by Claimer:
The taxes are miniscule and could be paid by a bag boy at foodlion.

<font size="-1" face="verdana,arial,helv">I don't have a dog in this fight but I assure you, property taxes on 400-1000 acres of lowland are not miniscule. If it's public then they shouldn't be taxing the original owner.

[JABIII]

Most of these dikes were breached during the illegal military occupation of the US Army during and after Reconstruction. Families left penniless were worried about feeding and clothing themselves and paying the horrible taxes levied on thier lands by the illegal state government. Those able to keep their lands out of the hands of carpetbagging Yankees were hardly in position to fix or maintain their breached ricefield dikes. That should not have given anyone any right to a damned thing on their private property. If you want to say the water is public, then fine. Let them fix their dikes and pump the damned water back into the river. They can always re-flood them with fresh well water....

[DUCKMAN]

If taxes are being paid by a private party then they should damn well be able to dike it all............................................... ......................In general the public hunter in most cases is his own worst enemy! Most have not a clue what encompasses waterfowl and wetland management - just like a damn shrimper - never do nothing but run the combine and harvest what others have made the sacrifices for.....

[SC quacker]

Originally posted by trigger:
Oh bullshit Claimer. The Corps will never allow anything to damage the river to the point that it would be "staggering". Just more scare tactics from Socialist minded Amerikans who want what the other half has but aren't willing to work or pay for.

<font size="-1" face="verdana,arial,helv">Well said Trigger.

[DUCKMAN]

I would now say the "Cooper River is in Recovery" if this is true!. Maybe we can get back to the days when 10,000 widgeon were a common everyday sight and we only shot them to finish a full bag.

[Claimer]

I stand corrected.

[SCDkhntr]

Ring King is right, Mulberry has been talking about this for sometime now. I do believe they are trying to get the Corp or Engineers to foot the bill seeing that they are the ones that blew out the dikes to begin with.

[Huntlabs]

I've hunted Mulberry since 1964 when we were first able to get thru the small break at the far end near Wapoola Creek. I have seen the break go from a trickle to a wide open entry. My son worked at Mulberry Plantation for several summers and the owner does have the resources to make the closure a reality. I would hate to see it go but he owns it, pays taxes on it and has the right to close it if he desires to do it. The reality is are there enough ducks here to make it worth while. He has a big planted rice field that is protected that doesn't have any ducks on it. He bought the crawfish ponds on HWY 6 near the Hatchery and invested $$$$ in planting and prep. The only ducks I saw there were about a dozen Buffleheads. I don't believe that a rich yankee with more money then he knows what to do with will invest it in a project like this.

[dukhntr]

I hunted Mulberry a good bit in the late 90's with Mr. Ware, and it sure is a beautiful place. I can totally understand why someone would repair the dykes. BTW, who owns the OLD landing adjacent to Mulberry (NorthWest)? You can navigate your way into Mulberry pretty easily through there. We used to kill a bunch of BWT in that honey hole.

[Duckman#1]

The owner of Mulberry has the $$$ to make it happen but I don't think it will. We go through this every year someone hears it will happen and it probably never will. The dike repair done in the north end of the feild was a fresh break and was repaired because it was close to the boat house and would cause the feild to silt in in front of his house and dock. As for the property he owns on Hwy 6 it has tons of food and water with NO pressure in or even around it and they have'nt kill 20 ducks off of it in the last 3 years.

[GMAC]

The Governor has little to say about it.

[Huntlabs]

The old Berkeley Country Club boat landing was where we put in years ago. It has been closed for some time. It was much easier than putting in at the Dock or at Cypress Gardens landing.

[KCM]

I say it will happen, all a matter of time.

Will it take away from some of the areas I like to hunt? Sure will. But it is for the better.

Mr. Gilbert at one time was interested in buying South Mulberry so he could close it up from farm creek all the way back to the house.

Once one gets to rebuild the dikes others will follow. Next would be the Dock field (Coppers or Blessing Hope), North Pimplico possibly, Power line field I doubt or unless the state stumbles acroos more money, Rice Hope nope, Mepkin nope, Tressle nope, Boot leg never, Cut through never. So there will still be plenty of open fields for the public.