The Southern Environmental Law Center has been fighting against the logging of an area known as Courthouse Creek located in the Pisgah National Forests. The original proposal was roughly a 500-acre logging project that threatened 17 miles of sensitive streams as well as a Natural Heritage Area. The area plays host to a variety of rare species including the pink-shell azalea. Logging this area would cause much runoff into the surrounding streams and rivers disrupting aquatic life. The logging would disrupt the aesthetic value held in the Natural Heritage Area and everywhere in the National Forest where the logging would be visible. The watershed would also be affected if the logging is to commence.
It has been argued that the logging would help restore parts of the National Forest by removing non-native species and planting hybrid chestnut species. (The Native American Chestnut was wiped out of this area do to a fungus during the Chestnut blight. It has been replaced with fast-growing pines. By planting a hybrid species that is immune to the fungus, there is hope that the Chestnut can re-instate itself in the North Carolina forest system.) It has also been argued that allowing logging on this scale creates jobs.
As of Sept. 2013, the project has downsized to a 435 acres over a 3-5 year period, with only 65 acres being in the Natural Heritage Area. Along with this change, 350 acres of land will be thinned using herbicides and hand tools to favor commercial species.
Courthouse Creek
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Posted on February 14, 2014 by bejohnson
The Southern Environmental Law Center has been fighting against the logging of an area known as Courthouse Creek located in the Pisgah National Forests. The original proposal was roughly a 500-acre logging project that threatened 17 miles of sensitive streams as well as a Natural Heritage Area. The area plays host to a variety of rare species including the pink-shell azalea. Logging this area would cause much runoff into the surrounding streams and rivers disrupting aquatic life. The logging would disrupt the aesthetic value held in the Natural Heritage Area and everywhere in the National Forest where the logging would be visible. The watershed would also be affected if the logging is to commence.
It has been argued that the logging would help restore parts of the National Forest by removing non-native species and planting hybrid chestnut species. (The Native American Chestnut was wiped out of this area do to a fungus during the Chestnut blight. It has been replaced with fast-growing pines. By planting a hybrid species that is immune to the fungus, there is hope that the Chestnut can re-instate itself in the North Carolina forest system.) It has also been argued that allowing logging on this scale creates jobs.
As of Sept. 2013, the project has downsized to a 435 acres over a 3-5 year period, with only 65 acres being in the Natural Heritage Area. Along with this change, 350 acres of land will be thinned using herbicides and hand tools to favor commercial species.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.myenvironment.net.au%2Findex.php%2Fme%2FWork%2FFire%2FFire-Resources%2FSalvage-logging-has-started-what-are-the-environmental-effects%2FDiscussion-regarding-salvage-logging-and-environmental-effects&h=0&w=0&sz=1&tbnid=Nqx2v5YVh3tQfM&tbnh=180&tbnw=280&zoom=1&docid=pamzMJb_fIr97M&ei=13z9UqOgC8aLkAeh_4G4DA&ved=0CAIQsCUoAA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisgah_National_Forest
http://www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/west/caselogging.pdf
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20130926/ARTICLES/130929911?p=1&tc=pg
http://www.southernenvironment.org/about/top_10_2013/courthouse_creek_nc
http://www.southernenvironment.org/cases/logging_in_the_national_forests/
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