The U.S. Forest Service seems bent on letting loggers have what they want, as seen in the recently released Nantahala and Pisgah National Forest Management Plan Revision. Scientist Will Harlan said the plan “opens over 63% of the 1.1 million-acre forest to timber harvests ... including 44,000 acres of old growth forests.”
This massive old growth cutting, though sweetened by talk of “sustainability,” “habitat improvement,” “forest management” and “young growth” trees,” has sparked public outcry from Buncombe County, the city of Asheville, eight environmental groups, 100 local businesses, and thousands of individuals.
The Forest Service’s mandate, to provide “for sustainable yield of renewable resources such as water, forage, wildlife, timber and recreation” urgently needs to be revised so the forests can directly fight two looming disasters: species extinction and climate change. First, we should change two words: wildlife to species and timber to living trees.
As for species
The plan calls for “commercial and non-commercial timber harvest techniques to . . . improve wildlife habitat” for elk, bear, deer, fish, grouse, turkey valued by hunters. But if we focus on all species living in the forest, the millions of invertebrate animals, including insects and micro-organisms (also wildlife) forming the foundation of Earth’s ecosystems, habitat becomes the untouched forest. The number of species described to date in the Great Smoky Mountains by the ongoing All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory is 21,183, giving us an idea of the possible number also living in our great Nantahala and Pisgah forests – all subject to extinction.
BPR News, Lily Knoepp, 3/20/2019
Record numbers of public comments, the government shutdown and innovations have all been factors in the slow pace of the release of the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest Management Plan.
Here’s an update from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service.
The new plan will provide strategies for managing both forests over the next 15 years.
The forest plan doesn’t just impact conservationists. Fisherman, horsemen, rock climbers and business people are all interested in how the management of over 1 million acres of forest will change.
All of these groups are represented in the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Partnership. Over 20 organizations make up the group which started in 2013. They have been meet monthly to hash out compromises that they are planning to present to the Forest Service.
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