OAKLAND — Steve Storck hoped to find solitude on a recent hike in the state-protected Wild Youghiogheny River corridor.
Instead, he was surprised to see new cables cross the waters.
Storck said the lines and accompanying structures, located roughly 100 yards from his property, are exceptions to the Wild Yough’s protections.
Layers of safeguards for the Yough include the 1968 Maryland Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, Code of Maryland Regulations, and 1996 Youghiogheny Scenic and Wild River Study and Management Plan.
“Even to be considered this should have gone through an exception review process with public notices and hearings including review by the Youghiogheny River Advisory Board,” Storck said via email.
“Just two weeks ago this was a completely natural view with no man-made structures, the view that has been enjoyed for all time before today, now there are two cables across what is supposed to be a wild natural viewshed,” he said.
‘Approved by DNR’
Storck said the cables are attached to a new USGS gauging station with solar panels and telemetry in the Zone 1 section of the Wild Yough scenic corridor.
Construction included clearing an access road, removing underbrush, installing treated lumber and other metal and plastic structures in the ground, and drilling bolts through trees, he said.
Maryland Department of Natural Resources Media Relations Manager Gregg Bortz told the Cumberland Times-News the equipment was placed in the corridor by the United States Geological Survey and “approved by DNR staff, who determined it is not prohibited by the Scenic and Wild Rivers Act.”
DNR did not fund the operation, he said via email.
“The cableway currently deployed is a routine method of water flow monitoring done by the (USGS),” Bortz said. “The cableway system is used to attach equipment during higher flows. This is a removable system that has been used on several DNR properties in Western Maryland and statewide.”
Details from USGS were not immediately available, but a public affairs specialist for the organization said answers to questions from the Times-News will soon be provided.
Other development plans
The Wild Yough has faced other development plans in recent years.
In May 2022, former Gov. Larry Hogan signed Senate Bill 291 that allocated $4.7 million for hike and bike trail construction in the protected corridor.
The public was not given opportunity to comment on the trails plan before the money was set aside.
While that proposal never came to fruition, in August DNR approved an exception to the Yough’s protective regulations that would allow Garrett County to build a bridge on an offset alignment in the area of the Swallow Falls Road bridge, which met opposition from many area residents.
It also contradicted recommendation from the Youghiogheny River Advisory Board, which said the bridge should be built in the same alignment as the existing bridge.
Storck is involved with litigation to overturn DNR’s approval of the exception for the bridge project.
Now, cables have entered the Wild corridor.
“While I feel strongly that the cables are non-compliant and a significant degradation of the natural viewshed, one of the exact things the Scenic and Wild Rivers Act protects, I am again flabbergasted that this occurred without a public review process,” Storck said. “Has DNR learned nothing … over these types of actions in the Yough?”
‘No public notice’
Storck emailed his concerns about the cables to some DNR staff members.
They said they were on leave from work but will get back to him this week.
Storck also reached out to USGS, and said “no public notice was provided and the application process with review by the river advisory board and an opportunity for public comment were not provided.”
In response, USGS said they asked DNR to give him the agreement between the two parties.