Tellico Off-Road Vehicle Area (NC/TN)
SELC Joins Sportsmen, Other Conservationists in Protecting Native Trout Streams
Forest Service Closes NC Off-Road Vehicle Area To Protect Water Quality
The U.S. Forest Service announced today it will close the Tellico River area in North Carolina to future ORV use to protect water quality in the watershed, one of the last, best strongholds for native brook trout in the region.
The move brings to a close a years-long process that began when SELC and our conservation groups in North Carolina and Tennessee took steps to sue the agency in 2007 for failing to meet federal law and its own standards to protect the watershed from pollution caused by excessive ORV use in the area. We negotiated repeatedly with the agency to get the result we sought - restoration and long-term protection of this vital watershed.
In an environmental assessment issued in February, the agency found that excessive, and illegal ORV use has caused extensive damage to water quality throughout the Tellico River watershed, with muddy water from the trails visibly running into the Tellico and its tributaries in hundreds of locations. Some of the trails in Tellico - one of the most heavily used ORV areas on public lands in the South - have turned into huge ditches, some seven feet deep.
The agency will decommission many of the trails and restore the lands to a natural state, and convert others to forest roads for public access for other types of recreation.
Case Summary
For generations of Southerners, the brook trout has been a symbol of the region's natural bounty and plentiful outdoor recreation opportunities. The native species, which survives only in the cleanest, coldest water, is also a symbol of water quality in our mountains.
A Rare Refuge
Decades of intensive logging, sprawl development and other impacts have polluted trout streams and extirpated brook trout from much of their historical range. In the South, some of the last, best habitat for this fish is on public lands.
One of these areas is the upper Tellico River watershed, a popular destination for anglers in the Nantahala National Forest.
“Monster” Problem
The Tellico area has also become one of the largest and most intensively used areas in the Southeast for off-road vehicle (ORV) users. The sport entails driving customized "monster" trucks and smaller all-terrain vehicles through rugged terrain - the steeper the trails, the more challenging, and the more damaging to the forest floor and water quality.
Years of heavy use and erosion have turned the trails in the Tellico ORV area into massive ditches, some more than seven feet deep. In wet conditions, these ditches channel muddy water into nearby streams.
U.S. Forest Service Follies
The U.S. Forest Service has designated 40 miles of trails in the Tellico area for ORV use - twice the legal limit. Further, in violation of federal and state law, many of these trails are within 100 feet of streams and creeks.
The agency's own studies show that brook trout populations in the area and downstream in Tennessee have declined due to impacts from ORV use. Yet the agency has failed to take the necessary steps to protect and restore the trout streams.
Since 2007, SELC and our partner groups have taken a series of legal and other actions involving the Forest Service and the ORV user groups; our goal is to ensure that the agency properly manages future ORV use in the Tellico area while also protecting water quality and trout habitat.
Tellico Off-Road Vehicle Area (NC/TN): Background >>