Cherokee Hiking Club
198 Crews Drive, Benton, TN 37307
Cherokee
National Forest
Wilderness Proposals
Updated September 2, 2008
Brief Description:
Jeff Hunter of the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition is going to be attending our upcoming September 11 meeting to discuss his proposal for designation of new wilderness areas in the Cherokee National Forest. Below are documents from Jeff which he forwarded to our club for consideration. This is an important topic. Wilderness designation will prevent any future logging on mining in these areas but will mean that these areas in the future will have to be maintained with non-powered tools.
Our club maintains the trails in the Tellico Ranger District and many members of our club are responsible for the maintenance of the Benton MacKaye Trail in the Tennessee and North Carolina corridor. Many of these trails are currently in wilderness areas or wilderness study areas and currently have to be maintained with cross-cut saws and swing blades rather than chain saws and brush cutter / weedeaters. The new areas under consideration would increase the areas which must be maintained with non-motorized tools.
An alternative would be a designation of these areas as Backcountry Recreation Areas (12b). See the attached email from Ken Jones which outlines his thoughts and suggestions. This would prevent logging and mining, but the protection is not as secure. Wilderness Areas cannot be undesignated except by an act of congress. Backcountry Recreation Areas could be undesignated by the Forest Service without an act of congress. This Backcountry Recreation Area designation, though, would permit use of power tools to maintain the trails.
Overview Map for Areas being considered for Wilderness Designation in the CNF
Big Frog / Little Frog Proposal
Citico Proposal
Upper Bald River Proposal
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