What's the fate of the Lake Logan dam?

Mar. 23—The Lake Logan dam was designated as "high hazard" a year ago, compounding the need to address lingering questions about its future in the wake of the paper mill closure in Canton.

Mill owner Pactiv Evergreen also owns the dam, and what will become of it is one the most important issues to be resolved following the mill closure, said Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers. If something should happen and the dam were to collapse, it would be catastrophic all the way to Canton and beyond, he added.

"Obviously the dam is potentially a very dangerous hazard to eastern Haywood County," Smathers said. "In any discussions between Canton, Haywood County and Evergreen, that's a question Evergreen has to answer. They still own the dam, and it's their responsibility to maintain it and maintain it well."

The high-hazard designation means a failure at the dam would have the potential to cause significant harm to life and property. The designation is not a reflection of the dam's condition, which the state lists as "fair."

However, the state cited a number of maintenance issues at the dam in 2023 that needed to be addressed.

"Due to the age of the dam and number of concrete defects, it is strongly recommended that an analysis be performed on the structural integrity of the dam," stated a 2023 letter to Pactiv Evergreen following a state inspection of the dam. "Failure of your dam could result in serious property damage and possible loss of life."

Smathers said whatever Pactiv Evergreen decides to do with its mill holdings in Canton, citizens downstream from the dam will have to be convinced future owners can maintain the dam.

"Canton and the county are in lock-step with this," Smathers said. "What's next with the dam is paramount."

Lake Logan was built by Champion Fibre Company in 1932 on the West Fork of the Pigeon River. The primary purpose of the dam was to provide a stable flow of water to the pulp and paper mill in Canton, especially during dry periods of low rainfall.

Through the years, the dam and lake have been tied to the paper mill property through a variety of owners.

Both currently belong to Pactiv Evergreen, but the company technically no longer needs the lake's water supply since it shuttered the Canton mill.

So the question is: What will become of the dam and lake? No response was received from an email sent to Pactiv Evergreen on the matter.

Regulatory warning

Dams in North Carolina are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environmental Quality Energy, Mineral and Land Resources Division.

A March 2023 letter the division sent to company officials in both Canton and Memphis, Tennessee, listed a number of dam maintenance problems that had to be addressed.

These included:

—Clearing brush and trees from the emergency spillway;

—Periodically inspecting the seepage on the downstream slope of the dam, as "excessive seepage can cause failure of the dam due to internal erosion or embankment sliding."

—Repairing cracks, spalling (concrete breakage) and seepage on the concrete downstream dam.

—Periodic checks of all drain valve facilities to ensure satisfactory operation of the drains should an emergency situation arise.

Due to the high hazard designation, an annual emergency action plan is required and must be updated annually. Pavtiv Evergreen was given 90 days to prepare the plan, and did so, according to Katherine Williams, the public information officer for the Energy, Mineral and Land Resources division. Emergency action plans for dams are confidential due to security issues, however.

The Haywood County Emergency Management department was nominally involved with the Lake Logan emergency action plan last year by providing feedback, said spokesperson Allison Richmond.

Following the massive flooding in Haywood in 2021, an emergency siren system is in the works to alert citizens if high water is moving downstream.

"The current siren plan does include sites along the West Fork of the Pigeon River which will be used for flood event alerting. Our hope is to tie them in to dam level gauges, allowing us to alert for dam level changes, but that goal is contingent on several factors that aren't within our control," Richmond said.

Closest neighbors

Lake Logan is an essential part of the business plan for both Sunburst Trout, its closest neighbor downstream, and the Lake Logan Episcopal Conference Center.

Officials with the WNC Episcopal Diocese could not be reached for comment.

Wes Eason, co-owner of Sunburst Trout, said he has had little contact with the mill owner regarding Lake Logan. His company has a lease with the mill owner that hasn't been changed since the 1960s when it was first signed. Eason said Pactiv Evergreen would keep him posted of any developments.

"There's a lot of unknowns," Eason said, "and a lot to be determined. It's not my dam, so it's out of my control."

When asked if he was nervous farming beneath a dam listed as a high hazar, Eason was philosophical.

"I'm nervous every day raising trout," he said. "I don't see how you can be a farmer and not be nervous. We have a great product that people like, so we just go on."

Meanwhile, the Lake Logan Multi-Sports Festival that has been a staple of the triathlon circuit since 2006 has been canceled this year. Glory Hound Events, which puts on the event, cited declining interest as the main reason, but the lake's condition was also mentioned.

"The lake needs work, especially the removal of trees and dredging of the sand bars, and it doesn't appear the company has any interest in making the large expenditures necessary to fix these issues," Glory Hound Events owner Greg Duff wrote in a blog post.

Dugg explained that despite popular belief, Pactiv Evergreen — not the Lake Logan Conference Center — owns the lake and dam.

About the lake

Lake Logan is 12 miles from Canton, and there are hundreds of homes along the river from the dam to Canton.

The 62-foot-high and 400-foot-long dam holds back a 90-acre lake with up to 2,400 acre-feet of water. Its drainage area is 21,120 square miles. The maximum discharge is 17 cubic feet per second.

The letter sent to the dam owner a year ago said while the agency makes every reasonable effort to determine the safety of dams in the state, state resources are limited to a visual inspection.

"You should keep a close watch on your dam and notify us if you detect any changes, especially cracks, ground movements or changes in seepage rate or color," the letter states

The letter urged the company to contact a professional engineer to inspect the dam and warned that the owner may incur liability should the dam have a problem or fail.