The North Shore Road
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is at the center of SAFC's Conservation Vision. A proposed road down a section of it would split and degrade one of the most significant conservation areas in the southern Appalachians. At stake is the largest roadless area in the Southern Appalachians - over 1/4 million (250,000+) acre – that dwarfs all the national forest roadless we try so hard to protect. This area has been recommended by the Park Service in the past for wilderness designation, and is crucial for wildlife, clean water,backcountry solitude, and viewsheds from the Appalachian Trail. Its protection has been taken for granted for too long because it is part of the National Park system. It is now very seriously threatened. Don't let this invaluable resource be impaired!
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North Shore Road
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Current Status
The National Park Service has issued a press release stating that the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) will favor the monetary settlement to Swain County as the preferred alternative. The FEIS will be published in Septemebr 2007.
Background
On January 4 the Park Service published a notice of availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the North Shore Road through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the Federal Register. While the DEIS did not identify a preferred alternative, it did indicate that the Environmentally Preferred alternative is a Monetary Settlement for Swain County. The public has until March 20 to comment. In addition, a series of public hearings are scheduled. Turnout at these hearings and a strong public response in support of a monetary settlement instead of the road is critical.
The proposed 38-mile road would breach the largest unbroken tract of mountain forest on federal land in the East, leaving a gash on the landscape that would be visible for miles. Cutting through the most rugged section of the park, the road could include three massive bridges, each one roughly the length of the Brooklyn Bridge . Among other impacts, the road would bisect the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and be visible for many miles along the AT, destroy 28 miles of the Benton MacKaye Trail, pose a serious threat to 140 pure mountain streams due to polluted runoff from exposure of the acidic rock in the area, and harm vital habitat for a multitude of forest species including black bear and migratory songbirds.
The World Conservation Union has judged the Park: “The most important natural area in the eastern US … of world importance as an example of temperate deciduous forest. [I]ts floristic diversity is unmatched in any other protected area of its size in the temperate world.”
The National Park Service has publicly acknowledged in the past that the highway would serve no transportation need , and would jeopardize the agency’s mission to protect the rich biological and cultural resources of the Park. The National Park Service began construction of a replacement road in the 70s, but quit after completing seven miles due to the extreme environmental damage and exorbitant costs.
The boondoggle road would cost $ 589.7 million dollars to build and its maintenance would add $14 million in maintenance and operation costs to the Park’s existing $ 11.5 million operating shortfall.
The impetus for the road is to compensate Swain County, NC, for the loss of a county road in 1943 when the federal government built a major dam that created Fontana Lake, but Swain County does not want the road and is willing to support a payment of $52 million —a fraction of the cost to build the road.
The highway is opposed by dozens of local, regional and national groups, as well as North Carolina Governor Mike Easley, the local Swain County Commissioners, the Bryson City Alderman, and local civic leaders in this rural part of western North Carolina.
**Here are talking points and more resources.
The Hazel Creek area could be placed in jeorpardy and degraded if the North Shore Road is built. Photos by Charles Seifried
