Added protections included in Chattahoochee National Forest timber sale

Working closely with Georgia ForestWatch, as well as with the Sierra Club, SELC has secured major improvements to a large-scale logging and forest management project in Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest, in the watershed of Warwoman Creek. Our engagement with the U.S. Forest Service over the past decade has resulted in a much-improved final project design. Notable improvements include reducing the amount of commercial logging by a third, adding protection for old-growth forest, avoiding construction of a mile of new road on steep slopes, reducing erosion on 11 miles of existing roads, and closing deteriorating roads that have been a source of sediment pollution for years. These measures will reduce impacts on a rugged and remote area known as Windy Gap and will significantly improve water quality in the watershed, which empties into the legendary Chattooga River.

The Forest Service released its final decision on the Upper Warwoman project this week.

Building on this successful engagement with the Forest Service, we are now working to improve the Cooper Creek project, which threatens 3,500 acres of approximately 100-year-old forest at another location in the Chattahoochee.