Cherokee forest plan flawed, illegal

Washington DC - A coalition of conservation groups today challenged U.S. Forest Service (USFS) plans to increase roadbuilding and commercial logging at the expense of protecting water quality and wild areas on the Cherokee National Forest in east Tennessee. The groups filed an administrative appeal of the Cherokee's long-range land-use management plan with USFS headquarters in Washington DC. It is one of several appeals of national forest plans in five Southern Appalachian states being filed this week in a coordinated effort by local, state and national groups.

Among other things, the groups challenging the Cherokee plan charge that the agency failed to (1) adequately protect "roadless areas" - special places identified by the agency as generally pristine, (2) expand wilderness designations to meet public demand for backcountry recreation, and (3) require sufficient buffer zones to prevent muddy runoff into mountain streams, many of which form the headwaters for community drinking water supplies. They also criticize the USFS for almost doubling the planned timber harvest on the 640,000-acre forest compared to recent years.

"We hoped to avoid appealing the plan. But the Forest Service, under the Bush Administration, has aggressively pursued development rather than conservation of the natural resources on our public lands, including the Cherokee, against scientific principles and public objections," said SELC senior attorney David Carr. The non-profit law center filed the appeal on behalf of Cherokee Forest Voices, the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition and The Wilderness Society. Also on Wednesday, SELC filed an appeal of the Jefferson National Forest plan in Virginia, and a joint appeal with WildLaw of the Chattahoochee/Oconee plan in Georgia. WildLaw is also appealing forest plans in South Carolina and Alabama.

"The public has spoken: We want our Cherokee National Forest managed so that it provides clean water, protection of wildlife, plants and wild places, recreation and the ecological system which we are a part of and depend on," said Catherine Murray of Cherokee Forest Voices.

"These plans took a fundamental shift after the 2000 elections," said Hugh Irwin, ecologist for SAFC, which has been involved in the forest planning process from the start. "Over the last several years we've seen a breakdown in communication between the public and the Forest Service with less willingness on their part to seek out and listen to comments. The increase in logging targets and decrease in protection of roadless and other special areas is the end result."

Initial drafts of the Cherokee management plan four years ago provided broader environmental protections than the old plan, and were the result of input from a variety of forest users. The plans were significantly weakened by the current Administration, however, in final versions released earlier this year. In their appeal, the groups charge the agency with violating the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Forest Management Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.

Logging

The plan would allow logging of 22 million board feet per year (MMBF) from 66% of the forest, which the agency has determined to be "suitable" land. (A logging truck holds about 5,000 board feet.) This is almost double the average harvest from 1997 to 2000 of 13.2 MMBF per year. Although the yearly target is less than the 1986 plan (34.5 MMBF), it does not include logging allowed on unsuitable land for insect and disease control, fuel reduction and other non-timber objectives.

Wildlife habitat and forest health are reasons the Forest Service frequently uses to justify its clearcutting and burn projects. However, public lands are the best place to ensure protected habitat for the many species that rely on mature, unfragmented forest. Further, the agency ignored the findings of one of its own employees last year that the historic, natural conditions of the Southern Appalachian mountains supported a relatively stable, mixed-age forest that did not rely on large-scale disturbances to regenerate.

Roadless areas

The Cherokee has 84,715 acres of identified roadless area - remote wild lands that provide premiere recreation opportunities. A federal rule adopted in January 2001 gave lasting protection to all the nation's roadless areas, but the Bush Administration has blocked it at every turn. If the rule is ultimately reversed, 31% of the Cherokee's roadless acreage would be vulnerable to logging, roadbuilding and other harmful activities under the Cherokee management plan.

Wilderness areas

Wilderness designation is the strongest environmental protection for our public lands. The Cherokee currently has 66,400 acres in wilderness. The plan calls for extending five of those areas by a total of 10,288 acres, and adding a new wilderness area of 9,112 acres. Cherokee Forest Voices and others support this increase, but advocate for additions to five other wilderness areas totaling 15,375, and adding another six new areas, totaling 54,847 acres. In their appeal, the groups noted that USFS studies show an increase in demand for wilderness nationwide of 171% by 2050, and that 92% of the citizens who commented on wilderness in the draft plans for the five Southern Appalachian national forests supported wilderness and/or adding more wilderness areas.

Watershed protection

Restricting activities such as logging and roadbuilding along stream banks prevents silt and mud from degrading water quality and aquatic habitat. In 2000, the regional USFS set out certain measures that each forest was to use in updating its management plan. Among other things, the riparian zones were to be a fixed minimum for perennial and intermittent streams, and ephemeral streams were also to be protected. The Cherokee plan, however, excludes ephemeral streams, allows riparian corridor widths to change project by project, and does not account for slopes or erosive soils, making it the forest with the narrowest riparian corridor in the region.