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About
Us |
The
Land Trust for the
Little Tennessee
88 East Main Street
P. O. Box 1148
Franklin, NC 28744-1148
Phone: 828-524-2711
Fax: 828-524-4741
Email: LTLT
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Press
Release March 27, 2006 |
Position
of The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee The Administration’s FY 2007 Budget recently submitted to Congress proposes the sale of 300,000 acres of National Forest lands across the Nation to raise some $800,000,000 to fund a five-year program of Federal payments to counties. The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee (LTLT) opposes this short-sighted proposal to sell off public trust lands to fund annual budgetary needs. The USDA Forest Service has created a list of potential lands that might be sold. This list includes over 9800 acres in the State of North Carolina with nearly 3700 of those acres in the Little Tennessee watershed of Macon, Swain, and Jackson Counties. The 61 listed parcels in the Little Tennessee watershed are located (1) adjacent to the Needmore Tract on the Little Tennessee River, (2) downstream of Bryson City fronting the Tuckasegee River (the principal tributary to the Little Tennessee), and (3) in headwater areas of the Cowee Mountain Range. Another listed parcel with 250 acres lies at the head of the watershed on the Chattahoochee National Forest in Rabun County, Georgia. Three other sites of listed land in the Nantahala National Forest include 148 acres on 2 sites in Cherokee County and 9 acres in Graham County. The Little Tennessee River is recognized as a national treasure for its exceptional water quality and diversity of aquatic life. In addition the valley and mountains surrounding the Little Tennessee harbor the most diverse assemblage of forested habitats in the eastern United States. This valley also is the most intact archeological and historic landscape of the Cherokee people. The National Forest lands are critical to protect the water quality of the Little Tennessee River and its tributaries, to maintain wildlife habitat corridors, to guarantee public access to the mountains for sportsmen and others, and to protect the viewshed of the most spectacular mountain landscape in the Southeast. Sale of these predominantly steep and remote public trust lands would have negative environmental and fiscal impacts on local counties. The cost of servicing private development on such sites generally exceed the local tax revenue generated, while extending emergency services up steep roads to access these sites will put volunteer and county personnel at risk. In addition, this proposal would create a wealth transfer from Appalachia to the West as the majority of funds generated by such a land sale in North Carolina would flow to western States. Many of the parcels on the Forest Service potential sale list lie adjacent to other conservation lands; sharing boundaries with the Needmore Tract (26 miles of Little TN River frontage acquired by the State of NC with federal assistance in 2004) and with private lands being protected under conservation easements. These National Forest lands are key pieces of a conservation mosaic of headwater forestland which should be expanded, rather than reduced, to conserve these mountains for future generations. |
