Proposed forest restoration efforts, including a commercial timber harvest, in the Blue Ridge Ranger District of the Gainesville-based Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest have come under fire from some environmental groups.
“We have serious concerns about the wisdom (and legality) of many aspects of this project and, to be clear, are firmly opposed to elements of it,” states a 37-page June 6 letter from Dahlonega-based Georgia ForestWatch, Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville, Va., and the Decatur-based Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club. “This project is a significant departure from other large projects…that were less objectionable because they did not target the most biologically rich stands on the forest, as this project does, and included ecological restoration efforts.”
The area in question is the Cooper Creek Watershed, a regionally popular trout fishing spot in Union County. The Forest Service is beginning an environmental analysis process for work tentatively scheduled to begin in 2016, including restoring native plants, enhancing wildlife habitat conditions and improving forest health. “The main objectives of the project are to enhance wildlife habitat diversity and restore and favor native vegetation, namely oaks,” said Blue Ridge District Ranger Andy Baker.
Those would take place in several ways, including through a timber harvest, prescribed burning and other noncommercial “improvement treatments focused on increasing the health and long-term sustainability of oak and other (acorn- and nut-producing) native species,” Baker said.
The analysis area comprises 30,000 acres, or about 10 percent of the Blue Ridge District’s total 300,000 acres. Some 2,300 acres would be for the timber harvest. Removing the majority of trees from a particular stand to regenerate an area would take place on 253 acres, Baker said.
From WRAL.com: https://www.wral.com/forest-plan-draws-fire-in-north-georgia-mountains/13750298/#2zJbgMG0EwGf6dXM.99