By Mark Miller, SAFC Virginia Field Organizer

On March 30, 2009 President Obama enacted the Public Lands Management Act. His signature secured lasting protection for over 53,000 acres of the Jefferson National Forest. The Ridge and Valley Act created six new Wilderness areas, two National Scenic Areas, and enlarged six already established Wilderness Areas.

The Act designated Brush Mountain East as a federally designated Wilderness. Brush Mountain East is a 3,700 acre jewel nestled in rural Craig County, Virginia. While the areas is small in size it makes up for its diminutive status with a spectacularly steep mountain ridge deeply incised by numerous small streams and finger ridges. The ridge itself climbs from Craig Creek nearly 1,600 feet to the crest of Brush Mountain. The escarpment gives a dramatic backdrop to the views from VA 621 along Craig Creek and provides the foreground for the view from the Audie Murphy Monument lookout near the top of the ridge.

Brush Mountain East is held up by a layer of Devonian Sandstone, but the more friable strata on the north side have promoted the many small drainages, coalescing into about 15 tributaries of Craig Creek. About 7.5 miles of the Appalachian Trail passes through or borders Brush Mountain East and several miles of the old AT traverse the lower slopes of the mountain. This old trail weaves in and out of the many steep, narrow drainages that make up this rugged and pristine place. It crosses many small streams and during high water these streams create many small waterfalls that splash restlessly down the mountain’s western slope.

The George Washington National Forest staff has begun a planning process that will guide and govern the management of the George Washington National Forest for the next ten to fifteen years. This management plan will also recommend areas to be designated as possible Wilderness candidates. Planning staff have remarked that they do not want anymore small wilderness areas. They have repeatedly expressed their concern that small Wilderness does not provide the necessary solitude for a true wilderness experience. A hike along the old AT route would quickly dispel this myth. Brush Mountain East with its deeply incised and sheltered drainages takes one far away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

However, solitude is not the only value offered by small Wilderness. Brush Mountain East provides a refuge to black bear, whose signs are seen scratched on old pines. It plays host to approximately six hundred acres of old growth forest and within a generation most of its forest covered slope will become well established old growth. This small Wilderness serves as a host to Table mountain pine, pirate bush and box huckleberry, the latter a rare plant throughout its Appalachian range. While small in size Brush Mountain East plays a large role in protecting and preserving our natural heritage.

Please contact the planning staff of the George Washington National Forest and let them know that small Wilderness plays as an important role as larger Wilderness. Small Wilderness serves to protect and preserve our natural heritage. Let them know that when considering their recommendations for Wilderness candidates that you support the concept of both large Wilderness candidates as well as small Wilderness. Brush Mountain East is the poster child of small Wilderness designations and reminds us that small is indeed beautiful.

By Mark Shelley, SAFC Director

Tucked away in the extreme southwest corner of North Carolina amid some of the most remote and pristine scenery in the eastern United States, the Fires Creek area offers varied opportunities for superb interaction with the natural world.

Tusquittee Roadless Area, is the largest inventoried roadless area in the state of North Carolina. Its 13,000 acres was once part of a larger 17,000 acre roadless area, but was carved down to its current size by two decades of Forest Service road building and logging.

The premier trail in the area is the 26 mile long Fires Creek Rim Trail, which traverses the unusual horseshoe shaped bowl of mountains, crossing over Tusquitee Bald, which lies at 5,240 feet. It is part of an extensive trail system that is heavily used by hunters, fishers, backpackers, and horseback riders, and which highlights the area’s important recreational values.

SAFC partners with the High Mountain Hikers whose mission it is to promote and facilitate hiking activities in the Southern Appalachians and to encourage involvement in the maintenance of trails and conservation of forest environments. Each month, this hiking club schedules work trips in both NC and GA. The club has been instrumental in reopening Chunky Gal Trail, opening and blazing a new trail to Boteler Peak, and is working presently to get the entire Fires Creek trail system upgraded.

SAFC, partially through a grant from Nature Valley, has contributed funds for the purchase of much-needed equipment for use by Mountain High Hikers.

Recreational values in this exemplary area are threatened by a 50 acre parcel of private property which is completely surrounded by publicly owned land. The owners of the property have indicated their intent to develop the land. This would be the only development inside of the basin and the area is high on steep slopes in the headwaters of a stream feeding Fires Creek. This will impair the pristine water quality in the area, severing the Rim Trail near its midpoint and ultimately disturbing the peaceful backcountry setting of this remote area.

SAFC encourages community involvement in the maintenance of the trails through this magnificent area and requests that the Forest Service purchase the private in-holding, protecting this conservation priority.

Partners: High Mountain Hikers, Wildlands CPR, WNCA, SELC, WildLaw,
Web link: mountainhighhikers.org
Funding Partner: Nature’s Valley, Z. Smith Reynolds, individual members

Who really needs another tie, festive sweater or fruitcake? This year, why not give a gift membership to the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition? It lasts all year long, makes a real difference, and won't be re-gifted next Christmas!

Not only does this unique holiday gift idea help protect the Southern Appalachian Mountains, but it'll be enjoyed by your friends and loved ones throughout the whole year. Click "Donate Now" at the top of the page and simply type the recipient's name into the Dedication or Gift Box and follow the steps. You can even send the recipient an eCard notification of your gift.

Thanks for your support, and Happy Holidays from SAFC!

Labels: gift membership, holidays, protect, southern appalachians

Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Max Baucus (D-MT) have introduced legislation to permanently provide $900 million to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the federal government's main program to protect land and provide outdoor recreation opportunities. The legislation, S. 2747, is supported by a broad coalition of conservation and recreation organizations.

The LWCF, created in 1965, has helped protect land at some of America's most famous and popular places including our country's iconic national parks, national forests, wildlife refuges and National Landscape Conservation System Lands where millions of Americans recreate; beaches on the Gulf Coast and Atlantic seaboard; as well as cultural and historic places like Civil War battlefields and Native American sites.

The program also includes grants to support state and local parks. Those grants help develop park facilities and recreational amenities - creating jobs and supporting the quality-of-life factors that allow communities to attract employers and a strong work force.

We get to protect places like Rocky Fork Tennessee and Catawba Falls North Carolina at the same time that we improve parks, trails, ball fields, and pools - that's a win for everyone.

Every year, $900 million goes into the fund from oil and gas leases on federal lands. Because only a fraction of the funds dedicated to the purpose have actually been spent, there is a backlog of more than $30 billion worth of lands that federal agencies would like to protect. In addition, states say they have a huge unmet need for local parks and recreation resources totaling more than $27 billion in eligible projects.

The irony is that billions of dollars are collected every year from existing offshore oil and gas leasing revenues – the designated revenue stream for LWCF – and yet that money is regularly diverted for other purposes. We need to make sure the money is spent for the purposes for which it was originally collected and to ensure that our children and grandchildren have a place to play.

Federal and state public lands as well local parks and recreation facilities greatly enhance communities' quality of life, which in turn helps large and small localities to attract new residents and businesses and to generate tourism-related jobs and revenues. Outdoor recreation including hunting, fishing, camping, climbing, hiking, paddling, backcountry skiing, mountain biking, wildlife viewing, and other activities contributes a total of $730 billion annually to the economy, supporting 6.5 million jobs (1 of every 20 jobs in the U.S.) and stimulates 8 percent of all consumer spending according to the Outdoor Industry Foundation.

The Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, in its association with Eastern Forest Partners and the Land and Water Conservation Fund Coalition work together to support full and dedicated funding for LWCF.

Labels: Conservation, LWCF, Rocky Fork, TN

Coalition Files Suit to Restore Protections Stripped Away by Bush

WASHINGTON- A coalition of conservation groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of Blackwater, Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, The Wilderness Society, and Wild South, filed suit today in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking to overturn a Bush-administration decision stripping the West Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel of protection under the Endangered Species Act.

"We're going to bat for 'Ginny,' the West Virginia northern flying squirrel who should never have been stripped of federal protection," said Judy Rodd, director of Friends of Blackwater, a West Virginia-based conservation group. "The decision to take the flying squirrel off the endangered species list was a political move, to allow more destruction of the squirrel's forest habitat for timbering, energy extraction, and development."

The decision to delist the squirrel ignored a scientifically based recovery plan for the species. Recovery plans are required under the Endangered Species Act to have measurable criteria for determining when a species' endangered status should be changed, and are developed by a recovery team made up of scientific experts on the species and its habitat. The rule removing protection for the squirrel acknowledged that not all recovery criteria from the recovery plan were met.

"The decision to remove protection for the West Virginia flying squirrel flies in the face of the science on the species," said Mary Krueger of The Wilderness Society. "With the filing of this lawsuit, we hope the Obama administration will move quickly to restore protections for the flying squirrel."

To justify removing protections for the squirrel, the Bush administration claimed that threats to the squirrel have been alleviated. In making this conclusion, however, they ignored climate change models showing decline for the cool mountaintop forests the West Virginia northern flying squirrel calls home.

"Climate change is a serious threat to the West Virginia northern flying squirrel and countless other species," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "When you're a species that lives at the top of the mountain and the forest beneath you disappears because the climate is warming, you've got nowhere else to go. Even the flying squirrel can only glide so far."
The organizations are represented by Meyer, Glitzenstein & Crystal, a Washington, D.C. public-interest law firm.

SAFC has decided to start a blog. We will try hard to keep it interesting and new, so please check back often.

October is almost over, so if you are in the market for some new artwork, head over to Blackbird Frame and Art in Asheville. Blackbird will donate 10% of all proceeds for the month of October to SAFC. They are located at 365 Merrimon Ave. in Asheville, NC. Go check them out, get some cool artwork and support SAFC's work.

SAFC will be posting soon...