By Chris Joyell, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

In a bold but necessary step, the Forest Service has announced its intention to close the Tellico Off-Highway Vehicle area, located in the Nantahala National Forest near Murphy, NC.

The Tellico ORV Area is in the headwaters of the Tellico River, one of the best strongholds for native brook trout, a species in decline in the North Carolina and Tennessee.  

In response to legal proceedings and impacts to native brook trout habitat, the agency conducted a full-scale Environmental Assessment (EA) of the OHV area and has proposed six alternatives for long-term management of the area.  The Forest Service’s “preferred” alternative is to completely close the Tellico OHV system.

The Forest Service is considering six alternatives to address this problem.  The Forest Service’s preferred alternative, Alternative C, would close the ORV trail System, but would maintain over 10 miles of roads in the area to provide for public access for highway-legal vehicles for hunting, fishing and other recreation uses. Closed roads and trails would be stabilized and rehabilitated to eliminate future sedimentation into the Tellico River.

Under consideration are an alternative that would keep the current 38-mile ORV trail system unchanged (Alternative A) and two more alternatives that would add new trails to the system (E and F). Two more alternatives (B and D) would reduce existing trail miles but would continue to provide ORV trail access in the Upper Tellico River watershed.  The Forest Service projects that all these alternatives have no or “low” likelihood of meeting water quality standards.

Wild South and Trout Unlimited, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, prompted the agency to look at the Upper Tellico initially after we threatened the Forest Service with a lawsuit in July 2007, alleging the agency violated laws by failing to prevent mud from eroded trails from polluting streams.

Water quality has been declining in the Tellico River and its tributaries for years as a result of muddy runoff from the inadequately maintained trail system within the Tellico OHV area.  These streams receive approximately 500 to 1,000 times more sediment than streams just outside the trail system.

“Our analysis indicates that on-the-ground conditions are worse than we first thought,” said National Forests in North Carolina Supervisor Marisue Hilliard. “The EA shows that the Upper Tellico OHV Trail System has extensive damage and contributes unacceptable levels of sediment into the Tellico River and its tributaries.

“The Forest Service is in violation of its own standards and North Carolina state water quality standards,” Hilliard continued, “because visible sediment from the OHV trails is reaching the Tellico River and its tributaries in hundreds of locations.”

“Additionally, since the Upper Tellico River watershed is located in an area of steep terrain, highly erosive soils, and high rainfall, our analysis tells us that maintaining an OHV trail system without causing significant environmental damage at this location would be extremely difficult,” Hilliard added.

In 2007, Wild South and partners issued a 60-day notice of intent to sue the Forest Service for violations to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act stemming from the agency’s management of OHV activity.

In June 2008, the Forest Service initially proposed a reduction in the size of the trail system in order to stem the flow of sediment from the trails into the Tellico River, which is classified as a native brook trout stream. Wild South subsequently intervened in a lawsuit brought against the Forest Service by OHV user groups, but that suit was late dropped.