Chattahoochee forest plan flawed, illegal

Washington DC - A coalition of conservation groups today challenged U.S. Forest Service (USFS) plans to increase roadbuilding and commercial logging at the expense of protecting water quality and wild areas on the Chattahoochee/Oconee National Forest in Georgia. The groups filed an administrative appeal of the Chattahoochee/Oconee long-range land-use management plan with USFS headquarters in Washington DC. It is one of several appeals of national forest plans in five Southern Appalachian states being filed this week in a coordinated effort by local, state and national groups.

Among other things, the groups challenging the Georgia forest plan charge that the agency failed to (1) adequately protect "roadless areas" - special places identified by the agency as generally pristine, (2) expand wilderness designations to meet public demand for backcountry recreation, and (3) require sufficient buffer zones to prevent muddy runoff into mountain streams, many of which form the headwaters for community drinking water supplies. They also criticize the USFS for almost doubling the planned timber harvest on the 865,000-acre forests compared to the last decade.

"We hoped to avoid appealing the plan. But the Forest Service, under the Bush Administration, has aggressively pursued development rather than conservation of the natural resources on our public lands, including the Chattahoochee/Oconee, against scientific principles and public objections," said SELC senior attorney David Carr. The non-profit law center joined with WildLaw in filing the appeal on behalf of Georgia Forestwatch and its member groups, and The Wilderness Society. SELC is also filing plan appeals for the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia and the Cherokee in Tennessee, and WildLaw is appealing plans of the Sumter in South Carolina and the Alabama National Forests.

"These lands contain much of the South's last remaining wild places and the headwaters of rivers that are vital to our economy and to us," said Debbie Royston, Georgia Forestwatch executive director. "The plan fails future generations and us because it does not protect these rare and unspoiled lands, nor does it ensure that we will have clean water for our growing populations." Protection of the Chatta-hoochee/Oconee becomes even more critical as the downstream effects from private land development increases stress not only on water quality and quantity, but also on aquatic species and recreational attributes, she said.

Royston noted that 78% of citizens who commented on the plan, as well as special interest groups and independent scientists in Georgia, wanted to see more protection. "But the Forest Service ignored these comments, and failed to adequately analyze some of their proposed actions. These failures are in direct violation of federal law."

"These plans took a fundamental shift after the 2000 elections," said Hugh Irwin, ecologist for SAFC, which has been involved in the forest planning process from the start. "Over the last several years we've seen a breakdown in communication between the public and the Forest Service with less willingness on their part to seek out and listen to comments. The increase in logging targets and decrease in protection of roadless and other special areas is the end result."

Initial drafts of the Chattahoochee/Oconee management plan four years ago provided broader environmental protections than the old plan, and were the result of input from a variety of forest users. The plans were significantly weakened by the current Administration, however, in final versions released earlier this year. In their appeal, the groups charge the agency with violating the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Forest Management Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.

Logging

The plan would allow logging of 50 million board feet per year (MMBF) from half of the forest, which the agency has determined to be "suitable" land. (A logging truck holds about 5,000 board feet.) This is almost twice the average harvest from 1991 to 2000 of 28.9 MMBF per year. Although the yearly target is less than the 1986 plan (87 MMBF), it does not include logging allowed on unsuitable land for insect and disease control, fuel reduction and other non-timber objectives.

Wildlife habitat and forest health are reasons the Forest Service frequently uses to justify its clearcutting and burn projects. However, public lands are the best place to ensure protected habitat for the many species that rely on mature, unfragmented forest. Further, the agency ignored the findings of one of its own employees last year that the historic, natural conditions of the Southern Appalachian mountains supported a relatively stable, mixed-age forest that did not rely on large-scale disturbances to regenerate.

Roadless areas

The Chattahoochee has 63,661 acres of identified roadless area - remote wild lands that provide premiere recreation opportunities (there is no inventoried roadless acreage on the Oconee). A federal rule adopted in January 2001 gave lasting protection to all the nation's roadless areas, but the Bush Administration has blocked it at every turn. If the rule is ultimately reversed, 87% of the Chattahoochee's roadless acreage would be vulnerable to logging, roadbuilding and other harmful activities under the new management plan.

Wilderness areas

Wilderness designation is the strongest environmental protection for our public lands. The Chattahoochee currently has 117, 436 acres in wilderness (the Oconee has no designated wilderness). The plan calls for extending six of those areas by a total of 8,094 acres. Georgia Forestwatch and others support this increase, but advocate another 9,800 acres in additions, as well as 32,000 acres in five new wilderness areas. The agency had initially included two of those new areas - Mountaintown and Kelly Ridge - in the plan, but dropped them last year. In their appeal, the groups noted that USFS studies show an increase in demand for wilderness nationwide of 171% by 2050, and that 92% of the citizens who commented on wilderness in the draft plans for the five Southern Appalachian national forests supported wilderness and/or adding more wilderness areas.

Watershed protection

Restricting activities such as logging and roadbuilding along stream banks prevents silt and mud from degrading water quality and aquatic habitat. In 2000, the regional USFS set out certain measures that each forest was to use in updating its management plan. Among other things, the riparian zones were to be a fixed minimum for perennial and intermittent streams, and ephemeral streams were also to be protected. The Chattahoochee/Oconee plan, however, excludes ephemeral streams and allows riparian corridor widths to change project by project. Further, the plan explicitly allows salvage logging and other silvicultural activities in the riparian corridor.