Nantahala – The U.S. Forest Service announced on June 21 that it will not be moving forward with a logging plan that was set to take place in a sensitive area of the Nantahala National Forest.
There were also plans to log in parts of the Pisgah National Forest as part of the Forest Service’s “Southside Project.”
In the original plan, the Forest Service was going to log, have a prescribed burn and close a road in a part of the Nantahala National Forest on the border of Jackson and Transylvania counties. The area is labeled as a N.C. Natural Heritage Area.
A letter released by M. Troy Waskey, district ranger in the Nantahala National Forest, shared the details.
“I have decided not to implement the two aged shelterwood treatment, approximately 0.18 miles of temporary road construction, or post-harvest prescribed burn, within compartment/stand 41-53 under the existing Southside fine Environmental Assessment and associated final DN and FONSI,” Waskey wrote.
“… This letter to the file withdraws the actions described above from the Southside Decision Notice and FONSI but does not impact implementation for any other proposed actions authorized under the Southside Final Environmental Assessment, Decision Notice and FONSI.”
When Waskey references the “actions described above,” he is referencing a map of where they would be doing work near Cashiers. There was going to be a prescribed burn of 26.69 acres and 0.18 miles of road work. Also on the map is Stand 41-53, which was set to be logged by the Forest Service, but it is in a Natural Heritage Area.
In a lawsuit filed Jan. 31, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Asheville Division, a coalition of outdoor conservationists sued the U.S. Forest Service and Waskey.
The lawsuit came from a group of conservation groups, including Center for Biological Diversity, Chattooga Conservancy, Defenders of Wildlife, MountainTrue – which has an office in Murphy – and the Sierra Club.
“This action challenges a decision – the ’Southside Project’ – by the U.S. Forest Service to commercially log within a Forest Service-designated ‘exceptional ecological community’ on the Nantahala National Forest. The imminent logging is inconsistent with the Nantahala National Forest’s governing management plan and therefore violates the National Forest Management Act,” the lawsuit says under the Introduction section.
After months of back-and-forth deliberation, the Forest Service and Waskey decided not to go forward with the logging plan. The legal action was a large contributor in their decision.
“We are thrilled to see the U.S. Forest Service commit to upholding the law,” said Jane Davenport, senior attorney for Defenders of Wildlife. “It’s unfortunate that it took a lawsuit to get there, but this commitment ensures a future for vulnerable species whose habitat would have been destroyed by logging.”
“This wild and beautiful forest was saved because people spoke up to defend it,” said Will Harlan, southeast directorate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Even though the public overwhelmingly supports protecting special places like the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests, the new forest plan tragically fails to do that …”
Emily Mason, advocate with Environment North Carolina, said in a statement, “North Carolina’s oldest trees and forests are a part of our natural heritage, yet few remain. Sparing this part of the Nantahala is welcome news from the Forest Service, and we urge the agency to continue to prioritize conservation over logging interests. …
“This decision from the Forest Service should only be the beginning of protections for mature and old-growth trees and forests in North Carolina, especially in the Nantahala … North Carolina’s mature and old-growth trees are worth more standing and need to be protected for generations to come.”