This coverage is made possible through a partnership between BPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
The privately-owned Ridgecrest Pond Dam in Buncombe County is a recreational dam in poor condition, classified as high hazard by the state. And now, along with at least 10 other dams in western North Carolina, Ridgecrest could either get repaired or come down completely.
The North Carolina General Assembly allocated $20 million to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality in the state’s recently passed budget to remove and repair aging dams like Ridgecrest…