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Wild Forests in the Southern AppalachiansDateline: July 16. The Bush Administration proposed a convoluted process that will leave America’s last wild forests open to destructive commercial logging and road building. This controversial decision forces Governors to petition the Department of Agriculture to protect their wild, roadless National Forests. The public comment period ends November 15, 2004.
From the Alabama National Forests north to the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia and the George Washington in Virginia, the Southern Appalachians are home over one-half million acres of inventoried Forest Service roadless areas. All of these areas, if not already protected either as Wilderness or some other federally-designated status, are left open in the Bush Administration's current proposed revision of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule to logging, roadbuilding, and other destructive activities. Forest plans give some protection, but more often than not the plans that have emerged for many of the region's National Forests leave room for enough 'discretion' by the forest supervisors that any protection is but fleeting and largely meaningless. In West Virginia, proposed plan changes allow for 'habitat manipulation' and 'vegetation management' tools in its roadless (or 6.2) areas, and the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests in North Carolina will no doubt be pressured in the same direction. . An intact Roadless Rule is the only way to permanently protect the system of roadless, wild forests area’s throughout our National Forests. Every state in the Appalachian region has unique areas that will be negatively affected by these proposed changes. These featured special places are but a representative sampling of some of the areas at risk. For more information, follow the links below to the Chapter pages. ALABAMA
GEORGIA
A hub of ridges and coves just north of the Tray Mountain Wilderness, Kelly Ridge shelters some of the finest wild land and water that is left in the Blue Ridge Mountains. As one starts on the Mountaintown Creek Trail, hiking on the ridgeline bordering the Cohutta Wilderness, be ready to splash around as you drop down into the Mountaintown Creek Gorge with its waterfalls across rocky and narrow sections of the forest. One of the most remote regions in north Georgia, Mountaintown has countless recreational activities including kayaking, canoeing, hiking, backpacking and biking. SOUTH CAROLINA Situated in the northwest corner of the state the Andrew Pickens District of the Sumter National Forest contains 6,161 acres of wild roadless areas. One rare gem, the Rock Gorge roadless area lies on the state border with 2,332 acres in South Carolina and 2,770 in Georgia. Rock Gorge is the wild, whitewater heart of the Wild and Scenic Chattooga River. It provides clean water, solitude and wonderful recreational activities, including kayaking and fishing to the people of the Southern Appalachians. The heart of the Rock Gorge Roadless Area is the wild, pathless Rock Gorge of the Chattooga River, impassible at high river flows, but a stunningly beautiful feast for the eyes for the fisherman or hiker willing to wade and rock hop when the river and seasonal weather allow. The roadless area is about 5000 acres, with roughly equivalent halves shared by South Carolina's Sumter and Georgia's Chattahoochie National Forests, just below the Burrell's Ford road. The Chattooga River Trail and the Foothills Trail run through the roadless area on the SC side, with the Big Bend Trail intersecting these contiguous trails near Big Bend Falls.
Rock Gorge RA harbors some of the finest, wildest backcountry in the Chattooga watershed. NORTH CAROLINA The impressive eastern flank of the Black Moutain Range is the highest in the eastern US. Rugged terrain, black bear habitat, and scenic vistas from the ridge characterize the area. The area contains substantial old growth (including the 1263 acre Middle Creek Research Natural Area, and one of the most extensive remaining virgin forests in the Eastern US.). Northern red oaks, tulip poplars and sugar maples up to 4 feet in diameter and 500 yrs old, along with large old hemlocks are to be seen in the Middle Creek RNA, rivaling the Joyce Kilmer Forest. The area contains one of the best quality composites of high elevation forests in the Southern Appalachians, consisting of old-growth boreal forest, northern hardwood and cove forests, dry ridge communities and heath balds. Mountain paper birch, disjunct from its normal range in Canada and the Northern Appalachians, is found here, along with other rare plant species. Animals rare or uncommon in NC are raven, New England cottontail, rock vole, saw whet owl, scorpion fly, and the Mt. Mitchell spider.
TENNESSEE The Bald Mountain Area, which overlaps the Jennings Creek RARE II Area, includes the Bald Mountain Ridge Scenic Area. It is also adjacent to the Bald Mountain area in North Carolina, which has inventoried as roadless along with the Cherokee Bald Mountain area total over 22,000 acres of roadless areas. This Bald Mountain complex is the largest potential wilderness along the Appalachian Trail between the Great Smoky Mountains and the Shenandoah national parks.
The Appalachian Trail winds through the area for over 6 miles. Outstanding views can be enjoyed from Big Rock and Blackstack Cliffs. The area contains outstanding terrain with spectacular cliffs. Attractions abound, with dramatic stone walls framing Margarette Falls. WEST VIRGINIA The Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia is a unique oasis of woods, water, and wildlife in the increasingly populated and developed eastern United States. The "Mon," as it is affectionately called by those who travel its trails and streams, encompasses over 918,000 acres, spanning more than 6 percent of West Virginia’s 15.5 million acres.Within a day’s drive of a third of the U.S. population, the Monongahela attracts 3 million visitors annually.
The 26 roadless areas that have been covered by inventoried by the Forest Service feature the best of the Mon’s unique, popular, and wild forests. The unusual carnivorous plants of the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area thrive in southernmost bogs in North America, serving as modern-day remnants of the Ice Age glaciations. The rugged, forested terrain of Canaan Loop and Tea Creek attract mountain bikers from around the world. Spice Run’s clean water streams nurture the native brook trout populations prized by anglers. In all, the Roadless Rule would protect the wild forests, wildlife habitat, rugged recreation, and clean water sources in over 200,000 roadless acres in the Monongahela National Forest. VIRGINIA In the Southern Appalachian National Forests, the Jefferson and George Washington have the highest amount of roadless areas (393,000 acres), more than any other National Forest east of the Mississippi. Areas include: Lewis Fork Addition, Little Wilson Creek Addition, Seng Mountain, Raccoon Branch, Little Dry Run, Little Horse Haven, North Fork of the Pound, Three Sisters, Little River, Oak Knob, Gum Run, Skidmore, Dry River, Jerkemtight, Crawford Mountain, Elliott Knob and more.
The Skidmore Roadless Area, bounded on the west by the crest of Shenandoah Mountain in the Appalachian Highlands bordering West Virginia, is an area of steep valley walls and rugged high ridges The upper reaches of the Skidmore drainage contains one of Virginia's few and best remaining stands of virgin hemlock forest, intermixed with species of the Northern Hardwood Forest. Because of its elevation and topography, Skidmore (along with much of the rest of the massive Shenandoah Mountain unroaded area), contains species generally only found in more northerly locations, and some are rare in Virginia, including the red crossbill. Sensitive species include black bear, the Cow Knob salamander (endemic to Shenandoah Mountain), and eastern woodrat. Photo Credits (from top): Butch Clay, Ray Vaughan, Butch Clay, Butch Clay, David Blanchard-Reed, Steve McGaffin, Jonathan Jessup, Jim Waite (Courtesy Southern Environmental Law Center) For more information on these and other roadless areas in the Southern Appalachians, follow the links below. To comment on the Bush Administration's plans to leave all these areas and more exposed to increased logging and roadbuilding, Take Action now. Learn more about wild forests and your local forest issues: Alabama Chapter Up to Top |
Oakey Mountain located in the Talladega National Forest encompasses 6,100 acres of wild roadless land. Bottomland hardwoods are increasingly rare in the Southeast and Oakey Mountain protects some of the few that re main. The area also includes other wetlands and dry oak-hickory-pine forests. Also with in the Talladega National Forest lies the 3,900 acre Blue Mountain roadless area located between Blue Mountain and Horseblock Mountain. It contains the Hillabee Creek Municipal Watershed that supplies the Anniston-Oxford area. The protection of this area will ensure a reliable supply of clean water for those communities as well as a spectacular recreational resource.
Only a few miles away from roads and phones, Kelly Ridge in the Chattahoochee National Forest is an exemplary and accessible part of the Appalachian Trail where one can hike the entirety of the ridge with family and friends.
The area contains outstanding bear habitat. The Bald Mountain wildlands as a whole have one of the most healthy and extensive populations of bear in the Southern Appalachians north of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The area is rich in rare plants species: Piratebush (federal candidate for Threatened or Endangered status), Turkey beard (Forest Service-sensitive and State-listed Threatened), John’s cabbage (Forest Service-sensitive and State-listed Threatened), and Marsh marigold (Forest Service-sensitive and State-listed Threatened).
