Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2015 - 13

M
Mountain
Report
Cathryn McCue
400 Acres of Tears Trail Protected
AND IN WEST VIRGINIA, A STRETCH OF THE WILD CHEAT RIVER IS
MADE A WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA.
West Virginia's Cheat River Canyon (both photos), has been protected as part of the Cheat Canyon Wildlife Management Area.
1 2 3 4 5
Regional
Almost 400 acres of hallowed
ground in
Tennessee and North
Carolina surrounding a
section of the Trail of
Tears National Historic
Trail have been conveyed
to public ownership by
the nonprofit
Conservation Fund,
which bought the land
last year. This section of
the 4,900-mile trail was
a primary route for the
forced relocation of
Cherokee people to
Oklahoma in the 1800s.
The newly protected
land will be managed by
the U.S. Forest Service,
National Park Service,
the Cherokee and Creek
tribes, and other
entities.
conservationfund.org
Georgia
To the dismay of local
environmentalists, the
U.S. Forest Service has
proposed a massive
timber project on the
Chattahoochee
National Forest -
roughly 2,300 acres in
the Cooper Creek
watershed, including
many stands of oldgrowth
forest, a diminishing
resource on
public lands in the Blue
Ridge region. "It seems
as if the whole project
is based on the idea of
finding the very best
and oldest timber and
cutting it down," says
Jim Walker, with
Georgia ForestWatch,
which is opposing the
project. gafw.org
North Carolina
The Southern
Appalachian Highlands
Conservancy recently
purchased the 58-acre
Big Rock Creek tract in
the Highlands of Roan,
and the 77-acre Rice
Creek tract near the
Rocky Fork wilderness
area of Unicoi County in
Tennessee. And the
Conservation Trust for
North Carolina purchased
the 47-acre
Jackson Knob tract in
Mitchell County, bringing
to a total of 31,408
acres along the Blue
Ridge Parkway protected
by the trust.
Generous funding from
Fred and Alice Stanback
of North Carolina
enabled all three projects.
sahc.org, ctnc.org
Tennessee
Dozens of Greene
County residents filed
suit in October in an
attempt to stop U.S.
Nitrogen Co. from
building a 10-mile pipeline
from its industrial
plant in Midway to the
Nolichucky River. The
residents are concerned
that withdrawing 2 million
gallons per day
from the river, and
returning potentially
contaminated wastewater
would harm the
river's endangered
aquatic life and recreational
value. If the
pipeline is completed,
at least two other companies
have plans to
also withdraw water
from the Nolichucky.
savethenolichucky.org
West Virginia
After years of work and
$7 million in public and
private funding, West
Virginia opened the new
Cheat Canyon Wildlife
Management Area in
September. A 3,800acre
natural gem, the
area protects the spectacular
view from
Coopers Rock overlook,
as well as seven miles of
the Cheat River, one of
the most wild, ecologically
intact river sections
in Central Appalachia.
The area features ample
public access to the
Allegheny Trail, a whitewater
and kayaking
mecca, fishing and
hunting opportunities,
and more than 10
endangered, threatened
or rare species. nature.
org/westvirginia
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 | 13
KENT MASON

http://www.gafw.org http://www.nature.org/westvirginia http://www.savethenolichucky.org http://www.conservationfund.org http://www.sahc.org http://www.ctnc.org http://www.nature.org/westvirginia

Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2015