Murphy – MountainTrue, an Asheville-based environmental advocacy group with a regional office in downtown Murphy, is raising funds and seeking members to protect public forests against threats including the petition to sell off lakefront property at Hiwassee Lake.
“Right now, our public forests – the lands we hunt, fish, hike, forage and bike on – are under assault,” the organization said in an emailed newsletter. “In just the last few months, we’ve seen:
- A new “pay-to-pollute” scheme that lets developers fast-track permits by cutting environmental corners.
- A federal budget that increases quotas for logging and mining on public lands.
- A proposed rollback of the Endangered Species Act that would eliminate habitat protections and clear the way for industry to destroy sensitive ecosystems.
- A push to eliminate the Roadless Rule, a safeguard that has protected 152,000 acres of the Nantahala and Pisgah and 63,000 acres of Chattahoochee National Forests for more than 25 years.
- Efforts to sell off our public lands to developers, including a petition by Cherokee County, N.C., commissioners to develop hundreds of acres of Nantahala National Forest around Hiwassee Lake.
“These forests belong to all of us,” the group’s newsletter said. “We bike the trails. We fish the streams. We hike, hunt and forage with our families. It’s our way of life, and we know that once these lands are gone, we’ll never get them back.
“That’s why MountainTrue’s Resilient Forests program is fighting back – and we need your help.”
Cherokee County’s petition
In April, the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners passed a “petition for redress of grievances” to the federal government over federally owned land, forest management and wilderness designations they say are harming Cherokee County’s economy.
The petition was authored by board Chair Dan Eichenbaum and passed the board unanimously. The petition lacks the force of law but may tap in to the Trump Administration’s sensitivity to overreach by federal agencies.
One portion has stirred loud opposition from the public.
Cherokee County consists of 298,482 acres, of which the U.S. Forest Service owns 31% – a total of 92,637 acres. Much of that federal land was acquired by the Tennessee Valley Authority when it built Hiwassee Dam.
“The TVA took more land than necessary to build the dam and fill the lake,” according to the petition. “Instead of giving the land back to the original owners, the TVA deeded the land to the USFS (U.S. Forest Service), which now owns almost all the shoreline. The USFS actively restricts private and commercial development of the land.”
The petition states that lakefront land should be made available for private and commercial developers to enhance the county’s property tax base.
Amid public backlash, Commissioner Ben Adams held a public Zoom meeting and followed up with a revised petition that removes the sale of lakeshore property and amplifies a request to make a campground near Hanging Dog a state park.
The board is reviewing Adams’ proposal. However, Eichenbaum said he opposes any changes, and he has already distributed the original petition to federal offices in Washington.
MountainTrue’s opposition
“This fight won’t be won in Washington alone,” the group said in its newsletter.
“To meet the challenge, we need to gather and mobilize thousands of forest lovers in Asheville, Hendersonville, Brevard, Waynesville, Boone, Murphy, Sylva, Franklin, Hiawassee (Ga.) … all across our region. We’ll gather in coffee shops and town halls, libraries and breweries, public hearings and planning board meetings.”
The newsletter includes a link to donate. Donating “fuels our grassroots organizing, public education and the bold advocacy we need to keep our forests public,” the group said.
The donation/membership page states, “You can protect the places we share.”
“Stand up for a cleaner and greener southern Blue Ridge by joining a network of passionate members and volunteers. When you donate to MountainTrue, you become part of something bigger. You and your fellow members are part of a grassroots network protecting the places we share.
“Your donation will make our waters cleaner, forests more resilient and mountain communities healthier. Having you by our side is what matters most.”