In a corner of Pisgah National Forest, Kevin Guinn readied his chainsaw to cut wood from a field tangled with logs and heavy branches. The debris left behind by loggers was too small to be profitable but good enough for Guinn to fuel his wood-burning furnace, even if he didn’t care for the sight of the land.
“I strongly disagree with this,” he said. “It’s so close to widely used recreation. You’ve got a camper down the road. There’s a stream down the hill. You’ve got the ecology of that.” Another woman walking her dogs nearby compared the field in North Mills River Recreation Area to a scene out of World War I, and said she’s readied a letter to send to the U.S. Forest Service. Rape of the land, she called it.
It’s an assessment the U.S. Forest Service has been dealing with as it explains a draft plan to guide resource management in the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests for at least the next decade. That draft identifies nearly 700,000 acres as being suitable for logging. But that number is certain to shrink — significantly — and clearing timber can improve the health of a forest, the agency said.
In a series of recent meetings, foresters presented the draft to the public, opening it up for comment that so far has generated concerns from both sides of the issue. The Southern Environmental Law Center argues the amount of land in the Forest Service plan amounts to an area bigger than Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
But the state Wildlife Resources Commission congratulated the Forest Service on its 700,000-acre choice, one it said promotes wildlife habitat rejuvenation, not industrial logging.
From the Asheville Citizen-Times: https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2014/12/06/forest-service-logging-plan-draws-criticism/19985669/