Stewarding Our National Forests

Wild South reviews and comments on project proposals put forth by the USFS on behalf of our members and the public at large to ensure that the agency complies with environmental laws, protects ecological functions, and acts in the best interest of the public.

Bankhead Canyon Preservation
This marked the fourth year of this project, which directly protects hundreds of acres of rare canyon communities in the Bankhead National Forests in AL through a special Canyon Prescription that gives a level of protection exceeded only by the Wilderness Prescription. In 2009 our walking surveys covered 130 miles of streams and 30,780 acres of the Forest, resulting in 360.5 acres proposed for canyon prescription. Two interns from Duke University and Warren Wilson College teamed up over the summer to help conduct fieldwork, create maps and produce summaries for each watershed surveyed.

Grandfather National Scenic Area
For the past four years, Wild South has formulated a plan with community members to preserve the remaining native landscape of the Globe Forest in Pisgah National Forest, near Blowing Rock, NC. In the process we have galvanized support for protecting this special place and the surrounding 25,500 of Pisgah National Forest as a National Scenic Area.

Since its inception in 2006, this grassroots campaign evolved from an environmental initiative to a political platform issue in 2008. In 2009 it emerged as a socio-economic opportunity for the citizens of a three county area in the High Country of Western NC.

In 2009, armed with an economic study and professional outreach materials, we garnered the support of county commissioners, tourism agencies, and recreation groups. To further build support, we led hikes throughout the Globe, including the rediscovered Upper Thunderhole trail. With the help of volunteers and USFS, we mapped the new trail and presented it to the USFS’s newly appointed District Ranger. In addition, we identified new partners in the private lands sector (e.g., land trusts) thereby expanding our reach in the community, tackling the private land protection issue, and building the socio-economic case for support.

Wilderness Stewardship Challenge
In 2009, with a new grant from the National Forest Foundation, Wild South began a partnership with the USFS to improve management of the Sipsey Wilderness of the Bankhead National Forest beginning with a non-native invasive species (NNIS) inventory. The goal of this project is to provide the USFS with an inventory of NNIS populations within the Sipsey Wilderness to inform future management decisions. In this first year, we completed a walking survey and inventory on 52 miles of wilderness trails and 38 miles of year-round streams in the Sipsey, submitting data to the USFS for 944 individual NNIS populations.

Forest Watch Victories
The goal of Forest Watch is to protect public lands from poor management and produce safe havens for essential habitats, ecosystem services, and low impact recreation. In 2009, we:

• With partners, sent the USFS back to the drawing board on two ill-conceived projects in TN, after demanding that ecological restoration be the focus of these projects rather than industrial logging. In one project, we secured a critical stretch of intact forest linking habitats in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Pisgah, and the Cherokee National Forests.
• Won two USFS project appeals in NC, with partners (SAFC, WildLaw, SELC, etc.) that will require the agency to reevaluate how it adds roads to the system.
• Won a favorable ruling, with partners, on our lawsuit to challenge the illegal 2005 National Forest Management Act regulations proposed by the Bush Administration. We were the only plaintiff representing the Southeast on this high profile case.

Protecting Wildlife

Wild South maintains the diversity of species on public and private lands by promoting the protection of native habitats.

Tellico Off-Road Vehicle System
In partnership with Trout Unlimited and the Southern Environmental Law Center, we protected one of the last strongholds for native brook trout in the Tellico watershed by compelling the permanent shutdown of the entire Tellico Off-Road Vehicle trail system in Nantahala National Forest, NC. Already, reports show tremendously improved water quality, which should continue with future restoration in the watershed.

Gopher Tortoise, Flatwoods Salamander, West Virginia Flying Squirrel, Cerulean Warbler, Eastern Hemlock
With the help of WildLaw, Wild South compelled US Fish & Wildlife Service to list the gopher tortoise as Threatened and designate about 45,000 acres of critical habitat for the Flatwood Salamander throughout the Southeast under the Endangered Species Act. We also challenged the illegitimate de-listing of the Endangered West Virginia Flying Squirrel with partners.

We continued our partnership with USFS in NC to research and understand distribution of habitat requirements for the Cerulean warbler to inform better management decisions in our national forests.

Finally, we worked with over 50 local citizens and The Clinch Coalition in Southwestern VA to protect deteriorating Eastern hemlock forests on the Clinch Ranger District of the Jefferson National Forest. We trained citizens and worked with the USFS to begin an extensive treatment effort that is now underway.

Preserving Cultural Heritage

Wild South identifies, preserves, and restores culturally significant resources and landscapes on our public lands.

Southeastern Indian Trails Project
Wild South is working to permanently protect public lands containing historic Cherokee trails and cultural heritage sites, beginning with the trail system of the Cherokee Nation prior to 1838.

In 2008 we collected an impressive amount of primary source documents, maps, and reference materials needed to locate and trace the ancestral paths of the Cherokee. In 2009 with new funding from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, we focused our efforts on the Cherokee Middle, Valley and Out-Towns of Western North Carolina.

We gathered historical evidence, performed the fieldwork necessary to document the existence of eight out of the 14 prioritized trails, and developed a database that cataloged all of the information. Additionally, we located previously undocumented or unknown Indian town sites, mounds, and fish weirs.

We recruited a Duke University summer intern who helped map trails, develop the GIS that we use for this project, and create a base map that illustrates how each of the documented trails align with the terrain, the historical context, the modern day transportation system, the ownership and land use patterns, and the ecological communities delineated along their path.

Inspiring & Empowering Communities

Wild South believes that when citizens equip themselves with knowledge, skills, and resources, they can change and improve the quality of their own lives and communities.

Helping Hands
The goal of our Helping Hands project is to engage people of all ages in the stewardship of our national forests. With grants from the National Forest Foundation (NFF) and the Walker Area Community Foundation General Fund in 2009, Wild South organized nine Helping Hands workdays, in which our volunteers invested 429 hours.

We also trained and certified volunteers and staff in crosscut saw use, and sponsored a CPR and First Aid training for 14 volunteers. The total volunteer participation across all NFF programs in Alabama last year, including Canyon Survey, Restoration Monitoring, and the Wilderness Stewardship Challenge was an amazing 800 hours.

Wild Walks
In 2009, Wild South educated over 500 people about the importance of healthy native ecosystems by leading natural history hikes in the proposed GNSA and the Bankhead National Forest. Additionally, we educated and engaged 500 people at our Mountain Wildlife Days event and educated several hundred more students through our classroom wildlife program, Wild Things.

Finances

Actual Income: $367,315.49

Expense: $341,198.36

Net Income: $26,117.13