Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition
Working to Promote the Sound Stewardship of Public Forest Lands, Reform Public
Land Management and Preserve Native Biodiversity
The Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition,
a collaboration of national, regional, state, and local environmental organizations
from Alabama to Virginia, was created in 1995 in response to the threats
facing the public lands and heritage of the southern Appalachians. We believe
our legacy of high mountains and forests, rivers and rural countryside
is at risk. We are working to complete the protection of our natural heritage
in the tradition of our grandparents who created the public parks and forests
of the region. The Coalition's work is currently dedicated to improving
the basis of sound conservation in the forest plans now being revised across
the region; to restoring public participation in the process; and seeking
new partnerships that unite us in seeking a secure future for a valued
inheritance.
SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN FOREST COALITION/ SOUTHERN
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER (SAFC/SELC) GIS PROGRESS REPORT UNDER 1995 CTSP
GRANT
I. Summary of GIS Achievements since incorporation
of CTSP Award: The Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition
(SAFC) and Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) have used GIS resources
acquired under the CTSP grant to further their conservation agenda in several
key areas of our campaign. The GIS hardware and software have been used
in monitoring data being developed by federal agencies in the Southern
Appalachian Assessment (SAA). This data, which will be used by the Forest
Service in their plan revision process throughout the Southern Appalachians
was available in draft form during late 1995. Our GIS capability enabled
us to review the GIS coverages being developed and make constructive comments
during the later stages of coverage development. Since the final GIS coverages
became available in the Spring of 1996, we have utilized them to examine
specific issues addressed in the SAA that will be pertinent to national
forest plan revisions. These important issues include old growth forest,
black bear habitat, and regional urbanization. The ability to display,
manipulate, and analyze coverages from the SAA relating to biodiversity
issues has helped SAFC/SELC develop positions and input on topics including
old growth, special area protection, and migratory bird habitat. To the
extent that our capabilities allow it, we are also processing data (e.g.
clipping to sub-regional areas, generalizing for PC format) from the SAA
and from other sources to provide access for member groups to GIS data.
SAFC has already worked out a procedure for processing the UNIX based coverages
using a PC based GIS system. Member groups can use this data to develop
alternative plans for input into forest plan revisions, for interim protection
of key areas of biological diversity and undeveloped character, and for
development of subregional conservation plans. We are utilizing coverages
from the SAA, from state heritage programs and other sources, supplemented
with coverages developed by SAFC and member groups to develop sub-regional
conservation plans for key areas of biological diversity and high concentrations
of wild areas. SAFC is currently working with the Wilderness Society to
digitize the Mountain Treasures areas in the Wilderness Society's series
of books on the remaining wildlands of the Southern Appalachians. Subregional
areas that are currently undergoing plan development include the Black
Mountains of North Carolina, the Ocoee/Hiwassee River area of Tennessee,
the Roan Mountain area of North Carolina and Tennessee, and the Unicoi
Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. SAFC member groups are also
developing plans for the Chattooga River Watershed and the Bankhead National
Forest. Subregional plans for other areas of the Southern Appalachians,
including the Mount Rogers area of Virginia and Tennessee, the Bald Mountains
of Tennessee and North Carolina, and the Shining Rocks area of North Carolina
are under consideration for conservation plan development.
Black Mountains Project: The mountain
range known as the Black Mountains of North Carolina is one of the most
physically attractive, biologically rich, and historically important areas
of the United States. The mountain range and its watersheds are important
to local and regional residents. The importance of the range has been recognized
by the world at large through the designation of Mount Mitchell as an International
Biosphere Reserve. The Black Mountains Project is pursuing the perpetuation
and enhancement of the natural integrity of the Black Mountains and its
place in the human heritage of the region. Using SAFC's GIS capabilities,
the Black Mountains team is designing a conservation plan for the area.
GIS coverages highlighting rare species, rare communities, and other biological
resources are used to identify key cores of biological habitat. The Forest
Service roadless inventory and the Wilderness Society's Mountain Treasures
inventory identify areas of wildlands that are candidates for protection.
These coverages have been incorporated into the plan coverages. Overlays
of the biological layers with the wildlands layers have been used to highlight
the biological importance of the wildland areas. Key areas of municipal,
church, and private land ownership with existing conservation easements
will be incorporated into the plan. Maps generated using these GIS coverages
will be used in a slide show in the communities around the Blacks to (1)
build awareness in communities around the Black Mountains that the area
is distinctive with important biological and cultural features that should
be protected; (2) build a broad base of support for protection of Mountain
Treasures areas in the plan revision for the Pisgah National Forest; (3)
encourage private landowners to establish conservation easements that would
bring significant tax breaks to the owners and would add to the conservation
values of the Black Mountains Conservation Plan.
Unicoi Mountains Plan Development: The
Unicoi Mountains area spans both Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests
in Tennessee and North Carolina south of Great Smoky Mountains National
Park. As one of the least biologically fragmented areas in Forest Service
ownership, the area offers a tremendous resource and opportunity for biodiversity
protection in the Southern Appalachians. The Joyce Kilmer/Slickrock/Citico
Creek complex of adjacent wilderness areas is supplemented by a number
of roadless areas, wildlands, and old growth areas to form a high quality
bioreserve core area that is biologically connected through corridors to
Great Smoky Mountains National Park. SAFC is using its GIS capability to
generate maps of the Unicoi Mountains that highlight its unfragmented character
and its high number of quality wildlands. These maps will be important
in the plan revision process to influence both the Forest Service and grassroots
groups to see the area as a distinct conservation area. This insight is
important in planning for biodiversity issues such as old growth, bear
habitat, and migratory bird habitat that should be coordinated in the whole
area rather than dealt with separately as a Tennessee area and a separate
North Carolina area. As SAFC brings biological data into the coverages
for the Unicoi Mountains, a conservation plan will be developed.
The Proposed Ocoee National Recreation Area: The 1996 Olympics
brought tens of thousands of visitors from around the world deep into the
heart of one of the Southern Appalachian's most remote wild areas. The
Olympic whitewater events on the Ocoee River have placed the river and
Polk County, Tennessee in the spotlight as a preeminent recreation area.
Future regional, national, and international whitewater events will only
consolidate this position. Polk County stands on the brink of a changed
future centered on recreation and tourism. The mountains of the Ocoee are
high--Big Frog peak towers at over 4,000 feet--Even more striking is their
steepness, ruggedness, and contrast from the busy cities of the Tennessee
Valley. The Big Frog Wilderness (7,993 acres) and its contiguous Georgia
counterpart, the Cohutta Wilderness (35,268 acres), form one of the largest
wild areas on national forest lands in the east. The Olympic Venue is tucked
in a narrow strip between the Big Frog Wilderness perimeter and Little
Frog Wilderness (4,666 acres). The surrounding wildlands are not just a
backdrop to the whitewater events, although they serve admirably in that
role. They are also a tremendous recreation resource in their own right.
Three outstanding rivers flow out of North Carolina and Georgia into the
mountains of Ocoee. Each has its own unique personality and would be protected
in the Ocoee National Recreation Area:
- Ocoee River National Recreation River - world class whitewater river
with the Olympic kayak course, constructed at a cost of $28 million, the
river attracted nearly 300,000 floaters in 1995--a gain for the local economy
on fee revenue alone of nearly $500,000, far surpassing federal logging
payments.
- Hiwassee National Recreation River - was once a richly settled Cherokee
homeland. It is calmer than the Ocoee and is appropriate for less experienced
rafters, canoeists and kayakers. Fishermen enjoy its excellent tailwater
trout fishery and what may be the best smallmouth bass fishery on Forest
Service lands in the southeast.
- Conasauga National Wild River - described by a well known fisheries
biologist as "the biological treasure of the southeast" with
26 rare, threatened or unusual fish species. The northward course of this
river ties together the Cohutta Wilderness and the Ocoee.
In addition to protection of the rivers, the National Recreation Area
proposal would make the following designations:
- Big Frog perimeter designated wilderness
- Little Frog perimeter designated wilderness
- Gee Creek perimeter designated part wilderness and part scenic area
- Chilhowee Scenic Area expanded to perimeter roads and private property
boundary.
- Coker Creek Scenic Area expanded.
- Smith Mountain and the Buck Bald Areas would be designated as old growth
biodiversity corridors for wildlife. Cherokee National Forest lands in
Polk County are appreciated and valued by local residents --- and increasingly
by regional, national and international tourists. The area has great potential
as a recreation area of the highest quality. However, this type of recreation
area requires planning and dedicated advocates. It requires protection
of its scenic values. It requires protection of its important areas. Local
groups are working to build the campaign for its designation as a National
Scenic Area.
SAFC GIS GOALS: SAFC's GIS capability
will be used during the U.S. Forest Service plan revision process to protect
roadless areas and key biodiversity habitat. We will work with grassroots
groups to provide data from the SAA and other sources to buttress their
efforts to provide quality input to the plan revision process and to influence
the new plans to provide for biological diversity on national forest lands.
We will also work with grassroots groups to put biodiversity issues in
a regional context, emphasizing the important role of public lands to provide
late succession habitat. Besides utilizing data from the SAA and other
sources, we plan to develop GIS layers specifically relating to biological
diversity and conduct regionally oriented gap analysis on selected species.
We plan to continue and expand our efforts to develop sub-regional conservation
plans throughout the region, taking advantage of member and related groups
that are currently developing plans or intend to develop plans to supplement
conservation plans that SAFC itself is developing. These sub-regional conservation
plans would be the basic building blocks representing core bioreserve areas
in the region. We plan to integrate sub-regional conservation plans developed
by SAFC, affiliated groups, and cooperating groups (e.g. land conservancy
and land trust groups), into an overall Southern Appalachian conservation
plan which would consist of a system of connected bioreserves for preservation
and recovery of biological diversity in the region. SAFC is involved with
the Nature Conservancy's Blue Ridge Project in a cooperative venture to
combine TNC's rich biological inventories with SAFC's approach to protection
of area sensitive species. The result would be a long range plan to assure
biodiversity viability and recovery in the Southern Appalachians concentrating
on national forest and other public lands. SAFC's GIS capability will play
a crucial role in integrating a large number of sub-regional conservation
plans into a coherent regional plan. We plan to work with our member groups
and other conservation groups to build grassroots support to implement
the long-range plan for biodiversity protection and recovery in the region.
Maps and posters generated using our GIS capabilities will be important
in persuasively presenting materials that elevate awareness of the Southern
Appalachian Conservation plan. This could motivate people to get involved
in plan revision efforts and efforts to implement sub-regional conservation
plans as a part of the regional conservation plan.
Text and graphics: Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition
January 2, 1997
Hugh Irwin
Ecologist planner
Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition
hugh@safc.org (note change in email address)
SAFC Web site: www.safc.org
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