Forest Service study says negative effect on local economy will be minimal

Dwight Otwell

Tellico – The U.S. Forest Service announced Oct. 14 that it is permanently closing the Upper Tellico ORV trail system to protect against serious erosion problems in the Upper Tellico River watershed in Cherokee County.

Representatives of area off-road vehicle organizations say they will sue the Forest Service to reopen at least some of the 39 miles of trails that catered to off-road enthusiasts from around the South, and some local business owners say the Forest Service’s decision is drastically harming the local economy.

Marisue Hilliard, national forests in North Carolina supervisor, said that while it was hoped that repairs and modifications could be made to existing trails, two years of detailed environmental analysis indicated a serious erosion problem and deterioration of water quality. The Forest Service will spend $2.3 million to correct erosion problems.     “The Forest Service is in violation of its own standards and North Carolina state water quality standards because visible sediment from the ORV trails is reaching the Tellico River and its tributaries in hundreds of locations,” Hilliard said. “Much of the Tellico ORV trail system runs parallel to streams in the area, with over six miles within 100 feet of streams.”

The trail system gets more than 80 inches of rainfall per year, making soils very erosive, she said. The Forest Service does not plan to reopen the trails to off-road vehicles because the trail system is unsustainable.

Hilliard said 13 miles of Forest Service system roads will be kept open year round or seasonally for highway-legal vehicles to provide access for hunting, fishing, hiking and other recreation activities. Closed roads and trails will be stabilized and rehabilitated to eliminate future sedimentation into the Tellico River.

Public speaks

In February, the Forest Service sought public comment on the environmental assessment with six alternatives for future management of the Upper Tellico ORV trail system, which included keeping some trails open. However, Hilliard announced that she preferred the alternative to close all the trails to off-road vehicle traffic.

There will be a 45-day appeal period, during which people can make comments, before the trails will be closed permanently.

Heather Royston, director of conservation and land management for the Southern Four Wheel Drive Association, said the Forest Service made up its mind long ago.

“They just gave it lip service,” she said of the almost eight-month wait and 2,400 public comments before a decision was made.

“We will appeal. We won’t stop with this decision,” she said. “If we need to, we will file suit [along with other off-road vehicle groups.] We don’t think that it’s right. We are not going to stop fighting this.

“We believe the Forest Service decided this long ago. They made a decision before they went through the process.”

No renters this year

Chuck Davis – owner of Tellico Cabin Rentals, which is in the Upper Tellico Trail system area – said his cabins are still open but he hasn’t had renters all year.

He has placed a sign on his rock crawl buggy that states, “Tellico – Screwed by the U.S. Forestry – Help The Fish Not The People."

“Once the Forest Service makes a decision, there is no changing it,” Davis said. “They let people fish. Fishing kills fish, too.”

Davis added that two events that brought thousands of dollars into the local economy were scheduled for the first and second weeks of October – Dixie Run and Jeep Jamboree – but they were relocated due to closure of the trail system.

“This month would have brought in over a million dollars,” Davis said. “I am trying to sell my property, but I can’t sell it. How stupid is it to take the money away from the county, especially in a bad economy?”

D.J. Gerken, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center representing Trout Unlimited in North Carolina and Tennessee, said conservation groups hailed the decision to close the trails to off-road vehicles.

“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,” Gerken said.

Minor economic impact  

Hilliard said the Forest Service contracted with the University of Tennessee to do an economic impact study of the area to show the impact of closing the Upper Tellico trails to off-road vehicles. It shows an economic impact of no more than .01 percent, she said.

The study says the trail system provides $4.8 million to the area that includes Cherokee, Graham counties in North Carolina and Monroe County in Tennessee. Anglers contribute $1.1 million in economic impact to the same area. In context, this is a small but locally significant portion of the total $369 million contributed by all forms of tourism.

Concerning the closings’ impact on the local economy, Steve Lohr, Tusquitee district ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, said, “I am sensitive to the fact that it hits a couple of businesses particularly hard. Overall, it is less than 1 percent [of the tourism economy]. We want to try to promote other activities on national forest lands.”

Candace Wyman, Upper Tellico ORV project coordinator for the U.S. Forest Service, said it was concluded that the trail system was not sustainable.

Concerning the economic impact, she said, “We acknowledge that in some specific and limited situations, the impact is significant. But we were told by economists [in the University of Tennessee study] that it isn’t a large part of the economic landscape for Cherokee and Graham counties.”

Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Phylis Blackmon said the county will miss business from the off-road enthusiasts.

“We will look for ways to offset that,” she said. “The business community will find ways to fill that void. We need to be good stewards of what we have. There are two sides to every situation and this is certainly one of them. There are a lot of businesses working toward bringing in other groups. We will miss [the off-road] groups, but we will replace them bit by bit.”

Loggers at work

Davis said the Forest Service is logging in the Upper Tellico area.

“Where is all the dirt going right now with all of the rain?” he asked.

Royston said logging causes as much, if not more damage than off-road vehicles. There is a clear-cut area the Forest Service did years ago, and she can see dirt going down the mountain from that area.

Lohr said the Forest Service is allowing one logging operation in the Upper Tellico area. Called the Farmer Branch project, it affects about 240 acres, although all of that acreage won’t be logged.

Logging is accomplished in all but two areas using an overhead cable logging system in which logs never touch the ground. In the other two areas, logging can be accomplished using a conventional ground-based system that skids the logs on the ground to a designated landing.

Wyman said the Forest Service has a detailed contract with loggers in which they must comply with on-site water quality best management practices.

Appeal in the future

After the 45-day appeal process, the off-road vehicle groups can file suit, but Trout Unlimited is ready to stand by the Forest Service in its decision.

“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 N.C. 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.”

Lohr added that after the 45-day appeal period, the Forest Service can begin implementing reconstruction of the area, providing the court doesn’t order a temporary ceasing of work if a suit is filed. He said work could begin to rehabilitate the roads and area within six months, but doesn’t know how long it will take to complete.

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Source: http://www.cherokeescout.com/articles/2009/10/20/news/doc4ade11732f0f4994576184.txt

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