SELC & Partners Collaborate to Safeguard Rocky Fork

The Conservation Fund and the U.S. Forest Service recently acquired Rocky Fork, until now the largest unprotected area in the Southern Appalachians. SELC has collaborated with the Conservation Fund and other groups in advocating the use of federal dollars from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to safeguard the 9,624-acre tract, which includes a segment of the Appalachian Trail. Resources from the fund made it possible for the Forest Service to acquire 2,237 acres of Rocky Fork and add it to the Cherokee National Forest. The Conservation Fund holds the rest of the acreage and intends to transfer the property to the Forest Service and the State of Tennessee when funds become available.