In October, the Forest Service announced it would close most trails in the Tellico Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) area, concluding a years-long process to improve water quality in the headwaters of the Tellico River. ORV use will no longer be allowed anywhere in the area.

In 2007, Wild South and our partners took steps to sue the Forest Service for failing to meet federal law and its own standards to protect the Tellico watershed from pollution caused by excessive ORV use in the area. In response, the agency undertook an extensive study to determine whether the Tellico area could be brought into compliance.

“When we first began our analysis we hoped we could make repairs and modifications to the existing ORV Trail system that would correct the water quality problems while still allowing for some level of ORV use in this area to continue,” said National Forests in North Carolina Supervisor Marisue Hilliard.

“Unfortunately we discovered that repairing the existing problems and maintaining these Upper Tellico ORV trails in the future would be much more difficult than we expected,” Hilliard said.

The Tellico area, located in the Nantahala National Forest in the headwaters of the upper Tellico River, was one of the largest and most heavily used ORV destinations on public lands in the Southeast. The almost 40 miles of designated trails — not counting illegal trails — are double what the Nantahala forest plan allows for the Tellico.

Muddy runoff in the Tellico watershed has been devastating one of the last, best strongholds for brook trout, a native species in decline in North Carolina and Tennessee. By the Forest Service’s own estimate, more than 25,000 tons of sediment have washed off the ORV trails into streams over the years, a primary factor in decline of native brook trout in the area.

“The Forest Service has a legal mandate to protect water quality and wildlife habitat. Our National Forests are an important recreation resource,” said Ben Prater, Associate Director of Wild South, “but no recreation use can be allowed to degrade wildlife habitat entrusted to the Forest Service’s stewardship. Water quality must come first.”

From 1996 through 2004, annual fish counts conducted by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission documented a declining trend in trout populations affected by the Tellico ORV trail system, including at least one year in which no young were documented.

“The results of the Forest Service’s extensive study make it clear that the agency could not maintain this trail system to acceptable standards,” said Michael “Squeak” Smith, with the North Carolina Council of Trout Unlimited. “Because the Forest Service can’t operate this ORV area without degrading this important habitat for native southern brook trout, it had no choice but to take this step. We’re grateful the Forest Service took this problem seriously and took the steps necessary to fix it permanently.”

To bring the ORV area into compliance with water quality standards, the Forest Service would have had to spend millions to repair the trail system. Instead, the agency will invest substantial resources to restore the area, converting the remaining ORV trails to forest roads for public access for other types of recreation.

“We support the agency’s decision to do what is necessary — and what is required by law — to protect this critical watershed, and will stand by them to defend this decision if necessary,” said DJ Gerken, Senior Attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.