ASHEVILLE - After being sued by a group of conservation and environmental protection organizations in January for allegedly violating the National Forest Management Act, the U.S. Forest Service has indicated it will no longer pursue logging in a 15-acre area that is part of the "Southside Project" in the Pisgah-Nantahala Land Management Plan, conservation groups announced June 26.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, which has an Asheville office, had filed the lawsuit in February. The legal center filed the complaint on behalf of the Chattooga Conservancy, the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, MountainTrue and the Sierra Club.
The groups argued that logging a 15-acre portion of the Southside Project, located near Cashiers in the Nantahala National Forest, was inconsistent with two aspects of the recently approved forest management plan. Logging of the Southside Project has been a point of conflict for years, where multiple conservation-focused nonprofits and legal organizations have frequently encouraged the U.S. Forest Service to reconsider the decision.
The area that has been removed from the Southside Project plan abuts waterfalls and rare plant species and had been designated a "Special Interest Area" in the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan.
The plan created specific protections around logging in Special Interest Areas, mostly around protecting or restoring habitats, reducing hazards, or providing for public safety. The January legal complaint argued the Forest Service bypassed those requirements.
On June 21, a letter from Nantahala District Ranger Troy Waskey said he has decided "not to implement" temporary road construction or the designated "post-harvest prescribed burn" within the area that sits just over 15-acres, ostensibly removing any logging activity from the special interest area.
In a news release the same day, James Melonas, Forest Supervisor for the National Forests in North Carolina, said they would remove the tract from the plan "rather than continue a lengthy legal process," and called the removal "proactive."
“We applaud the Forest Service for agreeing to drop their illegitimate plan for logging in a Special Interest Area next to the Whitewater River. Regretfully, it took filing a lawsuit and six months of negotiations to prompt the recalcitrant Forest Service to abide by federal law, to save one unique stand of our national forest,” Nicole Hayler, director of the Chattooga Conservancy, said in a June 26 joint news release.
The organizations indicated that they intend to drop the lawsuit as part of an agreement with the Forest Service, which indicated they would remove the area from the plan if the groups discontinued the suit. The removal of the 15-acre site will not prevent the agency from implementing other parts of the Southside timber project.
Hayer said the continued logging in the Southside Project and escalated plans for logging in sensitive areas will continue to fuel "more controversy and conflict that further undermines public trust in Forest Service managers.”
The Nantahala National Forest covers more than a half-million acres of mountainous terrain in the westernmost region of Western North Carolina. It is the largest of the state’s four national forests and is open to timber harvesting, hiking, fishing, hunting, paddling, horseback riding and more activities.
“We have been pointing out problems with the agency’s logging plans for this area for years. It’s a shame we had to take them to court to achieve this outcome, but we’re glad this incredible area is no longer on the chopping block,” Patrick Hunter, managing Attorney of the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Asheville Office, wrote in a June 26 news release.
In 2023, the U.S. Forest Service released a new management plan for North Carolina's two westernmost forests. The decade-long revision process on the Nantahala-Pisgah management plan — which will guide management for how much can be logged and how much of the land is protected, as well as many other forest uses, for the next 10-15 years — has been plagued with conservation group concerns about the long-term impacts of expanded logging practices.
More lawsuits have already been filed against the Forest Service after the publication of the 2023 Forest Plan.
In April, a coalition of conservation groups — some of which had also filed the Southside Project lawsuit — filed another lawsuit alleging the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Management Plan violates the Endangered Species Act. The suit alleges the Forest Service worked with "inaccurate and incomplete" information regarding the habitats of federally protected bat species and sensitive habitats when developing the plan, putting both in danger of being permanently damaged.
Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
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