During the SouthWings organized landslide viewing flights and flights and other site visits, LTWA and GIS collected data and images documenting numerous slope failures around the county.

At the regular meeting of the Macon County Board of Commissioners on Monday, March 1, Jenny Sanders of the Little Tennessee Watershed Association (LTWA) presented information and images of recent landslides in the region, including photographs taken on recent viewing flights offered by SouthWinds, a non-profit conservation- aviation organization.

Organized by LTWA, the landslide viewing flights gave local leaders and other interested parties a chance to get a birds eye view of the recent damage done by landslides this winter. Sanders said that invitations to participate in the flights had been extended to elected officials, Planning Board members, members of the Slope Development Committee, the Watershed Council, and various other county departments and interested groups. Commission Chairman Ronnie Beale said that unfortunately no commissioners had been able to join the viewing parties.

On the day of the flights, the Macon County GIS Department and Rick Wooten from the North Carolina Geological Survey (NCGS) had been on hand to provide participants with maps and additional information.

Sanders’ presentation included highlights from these flights, data and images collected by LTWA and GIS during other site visits, as well as data compiled by Rick Wooten and NCGS. Sanders discussed a number of specific Macon County communities that had been effected by recent slides, including the Wildflower development, Onion Mountain, Mill Creek and Wayah Road. She presented data that showed the majority of slope failures occur on modified slopes.

Sanders noted that many homes in the county have been built in locations with dangerous slopes uphill. “Even if that home owner has done some geotechnical analysis and thought maybe their home was in a good spot, you have to look uphill,” she warned. She also noted that property damage had significantly decreased property value at a number of locations and made them much less viable for development.

A number of technical maps were included in the presentation, specifically of the Wildflower area. Josh Pope of GIS was on hand to explain some details and how these maps were developed. “The reason we mapped these areas,” he said, “we were working in conjunction with 9-1-1, and at the time of the first slide [in Wildflower], they were worried about public safety issues and the danger to people in the rest of the development.” Pope said that the situation in some areas has gotten worse since their mapping project.

Sanders said that LTWA’s interest in landslides lies largely in the problem of sediment overload in rivers. “We have enough problems with sedimentation,” she said, “a landslide going in is more of a load than our rivers can naturally handle.”

Toward the end of the presentation, Beale noted that the Planning Board was recently presented recommendations by the Slope Development Committee.

“We encourage you to take a look at those [recommendations] closely for safety and economic reasons,” Sanders said.

In a later correspondence with Macon County News, she added: “I understand that the Slope Development committee has submitted its recommendations to the Planning Board for consideration. It is our hope that the flights provided these committees with the information that they need to make good decisions in their effort to protect Macon County’s residents from these type of catastrophes. We [LTWA] think the recommendations that the Slope Development Committee made are reasonable and we strongly support their adoption by the Macon County Board of Commissioners.”

LTWA is scheduling another flight in the future to view recent debris flows in the Water Dance development in Jackson County.

2010 census preparations

Also at the commissioners meeting, Derek Roland and Rhonda Blanton presented the progress of the Complete Count Committee in preparations for the 2010 census. In their presentation they stressed the importance of an accurate census count and outlined the work the county has done educate the public on its importance.

“An accurate census count provides numerous benefits to us as a county,” said Roland. “The data will determine how more than $400 billion of federal funds are distributed to local governments each year. The funding can be allocated to things such as education, public safety, housing, roads, and also other community services such as programs for the elderly and Head Start programs. An undercount of even 1,000 residents could mean a loss of millions of dollars to a community.”

The Wildflower development, above, is one area where recent failures have damaged property and created potential hazards.

On March 22, a vehicle from the 2010 Census “Portrait of America” Road Tour will pay a visit to the Franklin. The tour designed to educate the public about the 2010 census, inspire interest in the process and encourage participation. The theme, “Portrait of America,” refers to the idea that by filling out a census people will become part of the portrait of the country that the census will paint.

The event will last from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Census promotional materials will be distributed, and entertainment will be provided in the town square.

County health rankings report

Health Director Jim Bruckner outlined a recent report released at the Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which ranks Macon as the 44th healthiest out of North Carolina’s 100 counties. The rankings are based on a model of population health that emphasizes the many factors that, if improved, can help make communities healthier places to live, learn, work and play.

It’s not supposed to be a competition, said Bruckner. “It’s supposed to stimulate conversation within communities to help stimulate conversation about how people could be healthier.”

On another measure, Macon County ranked 15th in overall “health factors.” Many different factors contribute to each county’s outcome including the number of uninsured adults, smoking rates, social and economic issues and the physical environment.

Bruckner listed a number of possible causes for the counties average ranking, including lack of access to health care for the uninsured and a cultural reluctance within mountain areas to use preventive care or seek treatment for conditions until advanced stages. He also noted some of the projects that the Health Department was involved in that could improve the county's ranking in the future, including the opening of a new free clinic in the Franklin area.

The March 18 meeting of the Board of Commissioners has been canceled. The next meeting will be March 22 at 2 p.m.