A statement regarding the decision by Forest Service Chief to uphold Bush Administration plans for managing five Southern Appalachian national forests

Background – The Chief of the U.S. Forest Service has denied administrative appeals of the long-range land-use plans for five of the Southern Appalachian national forests. These plans dictate all management activities on approximately 2.7 million acres of public lands for the next 10-15 years. The forests are the Jefferson National Forest (VA), Cherokee National Forest (TN), Chattahoochee/Oconee National Forest (GA), Sumter National Forest (SC) and the National Forests of Alabama.

The process to develop these land-use plans spanned many years, involved dozens of stakeholder organizations and thousands of citizens, and was a prime opportunity to address key environmental issues on a landscape scale throughout the Southern Appalachian region. Initially, in the late 1990s, the USFS took substantial steps to improve conservation; however, the final plans issued under the Bush Administration in 2004 reversed much of that progress and ignored valuable input from the conservation community. In a region wide collaborative initiative, SELC and numerous other conservation groups filed detailed administrative appeals of the plans in April 2004.

In short, the plans allow roughly double the level of logging compared to recent harvest levels, which means more roadbuilding, loss of prime wildlife habitat, threats to water quality, and ruined recreation experiences. Further, the plans fail to adequately protect “roadless” areas – special places identified by the agency itself as relatively pristine, and fail to require sufficient buffer zones to prevent muddy runoff in streams, many of which are headwaters for community drinking water supplies.

On July 24, after delaying for more than two years, the Chief of the USFS issued a decision denying the appeals. The decision fails to even address many of the most critical concerns voiced by the conservation groups and many citizens.

Statement from SELC Staff Attorney Sarah Francisco: “The Forest Service is planning to increase logging and roadbuilding throughout the region, largely at the expense of protecting key wildlife habitat, water quality and wild areas. This is the exact opposite direction the majority of citizens want for these natural treasures.

“We will continue to file legal challenges to stop the worst projects on these public lands which citizens increasingly value for recreation and environmental values than for timber. We’re not going to let them log our roadless areas or our old-growth forests. We’re not going to let them muddy our clean mountain streams or build roads through remote wildlife habitat. And we’re not going to let them scrape away the forested views along our trails.”

SELC and our partners are actively opposing several projects proposed under the 2004 plans, including:

• The 725-acre logging project on Brawley Mountain in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia. The project includes logging within sensitive streamside areas and within view of the Benton MacKaye Trail. After logging, the agency will burn the area every 4 to 5 years to prevent regrowth, further harming these naturally moist Eastern mountain forests.
• The 350-acre Rough Ridge timber sale very near Laurel Fork, a premier trout stream in the Cherokee National Forest in Carter County, in north-eastern Tennessee. The project is within the White Rocks Mountain area, which should be identified and protected as a roadless area. It is surrounded by the Pond Mountain Wilderness Area, the Appalachian Trail and the Slide Hollow Roadless Area and should be protected for recreation, especially hiking and trout fishing, and wildlife habitat.

Other forest conservation groups are also opposing numerous projects proposed under the 2004 plans throughout the region.

SELC appealed the Jefferson (VA) plan on behalf of The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club and the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition (SAFC), and the Cherokee (TN) plan on behalf of Cherokee Forest Voices and its member groups, SAFC and Appalachian Voices. SELC filed a joint appeal with Wildlaw, another non-profit law group, of the Chattahoochee/Oconee (GA) plan on behalf of Georgia ForestWatch and numerous others. Wildlaw also filed appeals of the plans for the Sumter (SC), the Jefferson (VA) and the National Forests in Alabama.