The U.S. Forest Service has released its long-awaited drafts of the Nantahala and Pisgah forest plan and environmental impact statement. The documents total about 2,500 pages.
A 90-day period of public comment begins Feb. 14. Here are some key things to know to help you navigate the draft plan.
• Reader’s Guide. This gives an overview of the proposed plan and draft EIS, with an index to chapters and appendices, the four plan alternatives and spotlights on hot topic issues including timber management, old growth forests, sustainable recreation, new trail building, forest access, wilderness, social and economic resources and plant and animal species.
• Four alternatives. The proposed plan lists four alternatives. People can choose to support one, or pick and choose pieces to create a new alternative. The Forest Service ensured that alternatives designed to benefit a single interest at the expense of other multiple uses were eliminated from detailed study, Aldridge said.
The four alternatives can be found in the draft EIS Chapter 2, starting on page 16. Maps for each alternative can be found in the DEIS Appendix 1.
- Alternative A: The “no action alternative,” which would continue the existing plan.
- Alternative B: This puts the most land in active timber management, or logging, motorized access and recommended wilderness - 23 areas of up to 126,000 acres. It also provides the most flexibility to add new trails and adjust the old growth network.
- Alternative C: This has the least amount of land available for active timber management, motorized access and recommended wilderness - 11,000 acres. Instead, it places more land in backcountry and a new management area that emphasizes active management for species composition. It adds the most restrictions on new trail development and eliminates future additions to old growth.
- Alternative D: This includes a moderate amount of land for logging, recommended wilderness (74,000 acres), backcountry and the new management area emphasizing active management for species composition.
• Geographic Areas, Chapter 3. This is the best place to start for those who have an interest in a certain area of the forests. The plan is divided into 12 geographic areas, for example the Pisgah Ledge, (page 153), which includes the popular Bent Creek Experimental Forest, Mills River and the Davidson River/U.S. 276 corridor in parts of Transylvania, Henderson, Buncombe, and Haywood counties. The Blue Ridge Parkway (a national park) also passes through the Pisgah Ledge, and it's home to such iconic landmarks as Looking Glass Rock, Graveyard Fields, the Cradle of Forestry and Looking Glass Falls.
Or you might be interested in the North Slope, (page 158) home to Shining Rock and Middle Prong wilderness areas, Mount Pisgah and Cold Mountains, or the Nantahala Gorge (page 178), through which flows 8 miles of the popular Nantahala River, and is also home to portions of the Appalachian Trail, the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail and Fontana Lake.
These areas look at "How do people connect to land, what does clean water look like in this area, what are ways we can focus on to make forest healthier, and what are ways we can partner with others?" Aldridge said.
• Consolidated Objectives: This is another good section to read when just diving into the plan to get an overall feel for the document. “Our objectives are the commitments we’re making, the things we think we’ll be able to accomplish during this plan,” Aldridge said.
For example, how many acres of prescribed burning there will be, how many non-native invasive species treatments, how much watershed improvement, how much timber harvest, how many miles of trails the forest will be able to maintain, what will access look like, and how the Forest Service will work with state and local governments.
It also dives into the two-tiered approach to management.
• How is the proposed plan different from the current plan?
The proposed plan is built around four themes: connecting people to the land; sustaining healthy ecosystems; providing clean and abundant water; and partnering with others. All new themes.
"The current plan treats all ecological communities the same but the proposed plan will differentiate how we manage high elevation spruce-fir at Roan Mountain vs. how we’re managing streamside or rich cove forest, for example,” Aldridge said. “There are different restoration needs, different wildlife habitats in each of these locations.”
The draft plan also recognizes the importance of place with a greater emphasis on the way people use the forest.
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February 14, 2020 at 05:00PM
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5 things to know about draft plan for the future of Pisgah and Nantahala national forests - Citizen Times
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