Old growth spared in northern Cherokee National Forest, Tennessee

SELC is pleased to report a successful resolution to our work on the Clarke Mountain timber sale in the northern section of the Cherokee National Forest in Carter County, Tennessee. The U.S. Forest Service has agreed to protect 55 acres of the proposed logging sites as officially designated old growth—a major breakthrough. The agency also agreed to limit logging on steep, erosion-prone slopes, applying a precedent we set in our successful administrative appeal of the Big Creek timber sale over a year ago, also in the northern section of the Cherokee. The stands originally slated for logging contain trees up to 398 years old and are part of a rare and exceptionally large old growth area on Ripshin Ridge.