The Anderson Creek OHV area, located in Georgia's Chattahoochee National Forest, is riddled with eroded trails. The trails system regularly dumps sediment into neighboring streams, degrading water quality and trout habitat.

The Anderson Creek OHV area, located in Georgia's Chattahoochee National Forest, is riddled with eroded trails. The trails system regularly dumps sediment into neighboring streams, degrading water quality and trout habitat.

The area was temporarily closed by the Forest Service and over $60,000 of repairs were put in place in 2005 for regaining control of the area and to analyze the situation for proposing a solution. That solution is now proposed as an Environmental Assessment in three alternatives, with Alternative 2 being the Forest Services "preferred alternative." 

    * Alternative 1, the “No Action” Alternative is not acceptable as the existing damage will only increase over time if mitigation work for controlling erosion is not performed.

    * Alternative 2 proposes a permanent closure of the area to motorized recreation and mitigation of existing erosion problems. ForestWatch favors this Alternative.

    * Alternative 3 proposes a major overhaul of the area, increasing the motorized trail mileage from the present 6 to 9 miles. The prohibitive cost and past experience clearly shows that keeping users on the designated trails in this steep area does not work. Motorized trail systems in the headwaters of primary trout streams is just not a workable solution.

The deadline for comments has passed, and we await a decision from the Forest Service.

Links: 

USFS Environmental Assessment
Coweeta OHV Impact Study
Wild South Comments
Georgia Forest Watch Comments
Georgia Forest Watch OHV Report