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Direction and standards for the management of the endangered Indiana bat were established in August of 2000. Since then, additional information has become available regarding desirable habitat elements for the species. This new knowledge is enabling the USFS to more clearly define desired conditions, establish more appropriate monitoring and allow greater management flexibility in certain situations.
The Forest Service has worked together with the Fish and Wildlife Service in crafting this amended language to ensure this plan amendment will be equally protective of the Indiana bat as the current direction. Wild South will be filing comments to ensure protection for the bat and its habitat. |
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One of the longest, most controversial struggles under the Clean Water Act has reached an important crossroads. The Pigeon River, its wildlife, and local downstream communities need our help.
A draft permit from the N.C. Division of Water Quality allows Blue Ridge Paper Company in Canton, NC to spew thousands of tons of toxic pollution directly into the Pigeon River. Wild South, on behalf of our members, submitted comments to the agency urging them to protect public health and environmental quality instead of our state’s largest polluters. In February, EPA Region 4 upped the ante by formally objecting to NC’s permit for Blue Ridge Paper Products on the basis of both color and temperature, along with other parameters. |
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October 14, 2009
Conservationists back USFS action to restore water quality in NC’s Tellico ORV area
Asheville – Conservation groups concerned about water quality in the Tellico River watershed in national forests in North Carolina and Tennessee from a degraded off-road vehicle (ORV) area hailed the final decision announced today by the U.S. Forest Service as a win-win approach to resolving the problem. The agency will close most trails in the Tellico area and invest substantial resources to restore those lands, and convert the remaining ORV trails to forest roads for public access for other types of recreation. ORV use will no longer be allowed anywhere in the area.
Today’s decision brings to a close a years-long process that began when the conservation groups took steps to sue the agency in 2007 for failing to meet federal law and its own standards to protect the watershed from pollution caused by excessive ORV use in the area.
“The Forest Service has a legal mandate to protect water quality and wildlife habitat. “The National Forests are an important recreation resource,” said Ben Prater, Associate Director of WildSouth, “but no recreation use can be allowed to degrade wildlife habitat entrusted to the Forest Service’s stewardship. Water quality must come first.” |
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The U.S. Forest Service in February released for public comment a revised management plan for the Uwharrie National Forest northeast of Charlotte. The plan, which will guide activities such as recreation and logging in the 50,000-acre forest, has not been updated since 1986. Wild South, our partners, and other members of the public spent a year crafting the rewrite with the Forest Service. The plan’s main themes include: restoring the forest to a more natural condition, chiefly by replacing planted loblolly pines with longleaf pine or oak-hickory forests; taking better care of historic sites and artifacts; and improving recreation, such as horse and off-highway trails near Badin Lake and completing the Uwharrie National Recreation Trail.
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Wild South is challenging plans to expand the runway of a small county airport in Iotla Valley, Macon County, NC, very near the Nantahala National Forest. The airport expansion will pave over Cherokee graves, the historic Ayoree village site, increase jet traffic and allow for a proposed industrial park. Toxic runoff from the airport could impact the water quality of the Little Tennessee River, which hosts numerous sensitive, threatened and endangered species. Wild South contends that the Airport and several federal and state agencies have violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in over five years and have violated the National Historic Preservation Act by failing to historical facts and the actual significance of the site. We are partnering with WildLaw to file a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue.
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The U.S. Forest Service in February released for public comment a revised management plan for the Uwharrie National Forest northeast of Charlotte. The plan, which will guide activities such as recreation and logging in the 50,000-acre forest, has not been updated since 1986.
Wild South, our partners, and other members of the public spent a year crafting the rewrite with the Forest Service. The plan’s main themes include: restoring the forest to a more natural condition, chiefly by replacing planted loblolly pines with longleaf pine or oak-hickory forests; taking better care of historic sites and artifacts; and improving recreation, such as horse and off-highway trails near Badin Lake and completing the Uwharrie National Recreation Trail. |
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In December, a federal judge ordered that the Tennessee Valley Authority install pollution controls on four power plants and substantially reduce pollutants that cause respiratory problems and swath North Carolina mountains in a whitish haze.
U.S. District Judge Lacy Thornburg, ruling in a nationally watched case, said North Carolina had shown that untreated air pollution from three power plants in eastern Tennessee and one in Alabama harmed citizens in North Carolina and posed a public nuisance. Thornburg said the TVA had failed to install pollution controls in a timely manner, and he ordered installation of such controls.
The court rejected North Carolina's request to require that TVA install controls on seven other coal-burning plants more distant from North Carolina, saying the effect of pollution from those plants was not measurable in North Carolina.
North Carolina sued TVA in 2006, contending the pollution from its 11 coal-burning power plants in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky wafting across the border caused respiratory problems and threatened the health of millions of people. The state's environment and economy also are harmed by TVA's emissions, which pose a public nuisance, the state argued.
TVA, a federal government agency, operates the nation's largest public electricity-producing system, providing power to large portions of Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama and small parts of western North Carolina and southwestern Virginia. TVA's 11 coal-burning plants range from 35 to 50 years old. |
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