Tag Archives: Tennessee

Smokies add 2 new beetles, canopy cages in fight against hemlock adelgid

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Knoxville News Sentinel 5/20/2013
Excerpt:      “COSBY, Tenn. — At the eastern end of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, not far from Cosby, Tenn., are three 25-foot-tall hemlock trees enveloped in nylon that appear out of nowhere like circus tents in the middle of the forest.

They’re called canopy cages. Six years ago the University of Tennessee and the U.S. Forest Service tested them at Blackberry Farm in Blount County, and now they’re being employed in the Smokies to help control the hemlock woolly adelgid, a tiny, nonnative insect pest that has been killing the park’s hemlocks for more than a decade.  ….”
Read entire article at http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/may/20/smokies-add-2-new-beetles-canopy-cages-in-fight/?partner=RSS

4,000-acre land deal links the Smokies and Cherokee National Forest

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Knoxville News Sentinel 5/3/2013
Excerpt:      “TALLASSEE — The overlook on U.S. Highway 129 was filled to capacity with motorcyclists from Texas, Florida and Louisiana. They had pulled off the Tail of the Dragon, an 11-mile stretch of highway in Blount County famous for its scenery and curves, and now they were taking photos.  Below the overlook was Calderwood Lake, a deep-blue finger lake along the Little Tennessee River.

With the Cherokee National Forest on one side of the road and Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the other, the mountain scenery stretched out in every direction as far as the eye could see.  The forested lands along Calderwood Lake seen from that overlook are part of 4,000 acres that The Nature Conservancy soon will purchase from Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners, a Canada-based company that in 2012 purchased Alcoa Inc.’s four hydroelectric dams — Chilhowee, Calderwood, Cheoah and Santeetlah — along the Little Tennessee River.  …”
Read entire article at http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/may/03/4000-acre-land-deal-links-the-smokies-and-forest/

Tennessee mountains on top-10 endangered list

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Knoxville News Sentinel 2/7/2013
Excerpt:     “The mountains of Tennessee rank among the most endangered natural areas in the Southeast region, according to a report released Wednesday by an environmental organization.

The Southern Environmental Law Center’s annual list of the top 10 endangered places in the Southeast for 2013 cites mountaintop removal in Tennessee and Virginia as one of this year’s most pressing environmental concerns. Also on the organization’s list of trouble spots is the proposed Corridor K highway project that potentially would realign U.S. Highway 64 through the Ocoee River gorge in the Cherokee National Forest.   …..”

Editorial: Time to set the Tennessee Wilderness Act free

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Knoxville News Sentinel 12/16/2012
Excerpt:        “The Tennessee Wilderness Act, which would protect nearly 20,000 acres in Cherokee National Forest, is still pending in Congress.

Instead of being an example of a bipartisan commitment to protect deserving natural areas, it is becoming symbolic of dysfunction in Washington. It is not a controversial bill, and even a gridlocked, lame-duck Congress should find a way to pass it.    …..”

Read entire editorial at http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/dec/16/editorial-time-to-set-the-tennessee-wilderness/

Chestnut research showing promise, also problems

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Knoxville News Sentinel 10/20/2012
Excerpt:       “Chestnut seedlings planted at test plots on national forests in Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina are helping researchers prepare for the day when this once-mighty tree can be restored to the eastern forest.

Since 2009, the University of Tennessee, the American Chestnut Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service have been engaged in a study to see how hybrid chestnuts bred for blight resistance respond to real-life forest settings.   …..”

Read entire article at http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/oct/20/chestnut-research-showing-promise-also-problems/

Bill to add wilderness areas in Tennessee mired in politics

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Chattanooga Free Press 10/15/2012
Excerpt:      “Conservationists are getting antsy that Congress for more than a year has failed to take up a bill that would cost nothing and protect 19,556 acres of Volunteer State wilderness — most of it in Southeast Tennessee.

The Tennessee Wilderness Act of 2011, introduced in May 2011 by Sen. Lamar Alexander and co-sponsored by Sen. Bob Corker, would expand five existing wilderness areas in the Cherokee National Forest and create the first new one in 25 years.   The five expansions include two in Polk County and one in Monroe County. …”

Read entire article at http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/oct/15/bill-to-add-wilderness-areas-mired-in/

Off-road group may appeal Tellico ruling

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Asheville Citizen Times 9/24/2012
Excerpt:   “MURPHY — An organization representing off-road vehicle enthusiasts is considering whether to appeal a decision by a federal judge upholding the U.S. Forest Service’s closure a popular trail system in Western North Carolina.U.S. District Court Judge Martin Reidinger sided with the agency and environment groups that contended the vehicles caused severe erosion that devastated native trout populations in the Tellico River watershed in Cherokee County.   ….”

Read entire article at http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20120924/NEWS/309240022/Off-road-group-mulls-appeal?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|s

Legal Efforts To Save Tellico Fall Short

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Side X Side Industry News 9/22/2012
Excerpt:   “ASHEVILLE, NC (September 21, 2012) — The United States effectively walked away from its substantial investment in a sizable portion of the Nantahala National Forest as a result of a recent ruling in the U.S. Western District of North Carolina rejecting four-wheel drive enthusiast efforts to re-open some portion of the Upper Tellico OHV System. The ruling, issued on September 19, came in a lawsuit filed by Southern Four Wheel Drive Association, United Four Wheel Drive Associations, and BlueRibbon Coalition.   ….”

Read entire article at http://sxsnews.com/index.php/2012/09/legal-efforts-to-save-tellico-fall-short/

Federal Court upholds Tellico ORV Area closure to protect brook trout

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Asheville Citizen Times 9/19/2012
Excerpt:   “A federal judge today upheld a decision to protect native brook trout in the Nantahala National Forest.  Below is the press release from the Southern Environmental Law Center:

Rejecting a challenge from ORV enthusiasts, a federal judge today upheld U.S. Forest Service and conservation groups’ efforts to protect the Tellico River watershed in the Nantahala National Forest, including streams critical to native brook trout, from pollution caused by excessive off-road vehicle use. Heavy usage of the Tellico ORV trails system damaged habitat in the Nantahala National Forest, so the Forest Service closed it as required by law and ORV enthusiasts subsequently sued.   …….”

Read entire article at http://blogs2.citizen-times.com/outdoors/2012/09/19/federal-court-upholds-tellico-orv-area-closure-to-protect-brook-trout/

Editorial: Happy trails: The Appalachian Trail turns 75

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Knoxville News Sentinel; 8/20/2012
Excerpt:   “The News Sentinel is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the completion of the Appalachian Trail with seven days of stories, photographs and graphics on the legendary trail. We started Wednesday with memories submitted from those who have hiked the trail. The memories continued on Thursday, Friday and Saturday before presenting a large section on the trail Sunday and following up with stories on volunteers, life-changing experiences, towns and the future of the trail on Monday and Tuesday.

Read entire story at http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/aug/20/editorial-happy-trails-the-appalachian-trail-75/