Groups appeal massive timber sale in TN

The U.S. Forest Service has failed to account for damage to wildlife habitat, recreational resources and local drinking water supplies in a proposed logging project in the Cherokee National Forest in Sullivan County, citizens groups said in an appeal filed with the agency.

At almost 900 acres, including 200 acres of clearcuts, the proposed "Flatwoods" timber sale on Holston Mountain is the largest logging project in the Cherokee forest in more than a decade. About 180 acres of old-growth - considered prime habitat for black bear, migratory songbirds and other species - are slated for cutting. About 7.2 miles of logging roads will be built to access the trees.

Hiking trails and campsites popular with local citizens abound in the area, along with multiple streams stocked with trout favored by anglers. Some of the cut-over spots would occur on both sides of some of the trails and in lakeside campsites. Further, parts of the project area would be visible from South Holston Lake, marring the scenic backdrop of the lake - a major recreational resource and economic engine in this rural northeast corner of Tennessee. Also of concern to the groups is the project's potential impact on Underwood Spring, the drinking water supply for Bluff City, which last year had to shut off its water supply due to muddy runoff in the watershed from off-road vehicle use in the Cherokee.

"Given the magnitude of this logging project, and the certain risk to wildlife, water quality and recreation, it's astounding the Forest Service did such a shoddy environmental review," said SELC attorney Sarah Francisco, who filed the administrative appeal on behalf of the Cherokee Forest Voices and its member groups, and the League of Women Voters of Tennessee.

In their appeal, filed Monday, the groups charge the agency with failing to conduct a full environmental impact statement, which by law requires an in-depth analysis of environmental, economic and social impacts of the project, and of alternatives. Instead the agency did an environmental assessment which glossed over the significant impacts of the project. Further, the groups say the Forest Service violated rules designed to protect the Cherokee National Forest's diverse plant and animal species. The agency's own rules require it to monitor certain species to gauge the impact of its management decisions, including logging and roadbuilding, on the national forest. Instead of following this requirement, the Cherokee cut its list of plants and animals from 103 to just 17, and still lacks sufficient data on those. The appeal seeks to prevent the timber sale on the basis of this inadequate species monitoring, and seeks a full environmental impact statement that would assess all consequences of the logging project.

"Holston Mountain took a huge hit in the logging heydays of the early 1900s, and is now recovering to the point where you're not camping in a clearcut," said Catherine Murray of Johnson City, executive director of Cherokee Forest Voices. "We should be saving these public forests for the future, not cutting them down."

The Flatwoods sale also runs counter to both the old and the new land-use management plans for the Cherokee National Forest. The old plan identified the area as significant bear habitat, which would be jeopardized by the extensive cutting and roadbuilding. The new plan, released earlier this month, provides protection for forests in the viewshed of South Holston Lake; the logging project would spoil the recreation and scenic value of the area.

"The Forest Service's conclusion that forest health is best achieved by large-scale commercial timber harvesting is in sharp contrast to findings from conservation ecology and to the public's strong support for forest protection," said Frances Lamberts with the League of Women Voters of Tennessee.

The project overlaps an area included in The Wilderness Society's 1996 report, Tennessee's Mountain Treasures. It also is in close proximity to the Stoney Creek Scenic Area, and to the Flint Mill Roadless Area. "The Flatwoods sale is a clear example of the agency pushing its 'get out the cut' agenda on our public lands under the Bush Administration," Francisco said.

Another example, said Francisco, is the administration's rollback of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which some 10,000 Tennesseeans have supported in comment letters to the agency. The rule, adopted under the previous administration, provides long-term protection for some 58.5 million acres of wild, undeveloped "roadless area" on America's national forests, including approximately 89,000 acres on the Cherokee. Further, the Forest Service has increased logging levels in the new management plan for the Cherokee about five times the amount from 2001 levels, she said.