Encroachment into a 25’ stream buffer, land disturbance outside the Georgia Power easement, and a muddy mess running down the hill toward Yahoola Creek Reservoir were results of a clear cutting operation for Georgia Power transmission lines.
City of Dahlonega Code Enforcement Officer Tim Martin told property owner Roger Brunstein there was nothing he could do to control a tree clearing company hired by Georgia Power to clear the transmission line easement that crossed Brunstein’s property. He said utility companies do whatever they want to do.
Brunstein visited the loggers regularly asking questions about the cutting. When he realized they planned to leave cut trees lying on his property, he told them that would be unacceptable. The steep terrain covered by logs and limbs would make the area completely inaccessible for his family.
Loggers chose to bring in a large machine to mulch trees in place rather that hauling logs up a steep incline to the road. Heavy rain accompanied the mulching process, turning the landscape into a muddy mess with the only silt fence in sight some that Brunstein had in place for an area being terraced for a garden.
