Save the AT through the Smokies!

[dixiehiker]

Hi! I just wanted to let you all know that there is now a petition that has been started to STOP the controversial North Shore Road from being completed in the Smoky Mountains on the N. Carolina side. As you may know, this road would cut through the largest tract of continuous virgin forest east of the Mississippi. It will also terribly affect the views and privacy of the Appalachian Trail in the area.

If you or anyone you know would like to sign this petition, please forward it to them. Also, ask them to forward it to their friends as well! Once the petition is finished, we will send it on to the planners of the North Shore Road.

The info is below! Thank you sooo much for caring about the beautiful Smokies and the AT in this area!
-Angie Smisson
Georgia

To read about the petition and to sign it just visit:

http://www.petitionthem.com/default.asp?sect=detail&pet=2456



Overview of this petition: -
The proposed North Shore Road would cut through the Great Smoky Mountains
in North Carolina, in an area that is the largest tract of continuous,
virgin woodlands east of the Mississippi. It would also cause unsightly
land scars, increased noise levels, impaired views along stretches of the
Appalachian Trail, and cause chemicals from the Anakeesta rock formations
to enter the streams during construction. This could have a deadly impact
on the vast aquatic life, including the famous Smoky Mountain Salamander
population. It would also displace numerous land mammals who call this
stand of virgin forest home.

We wish to stop this road before it is too late. If allowed to happen,
this road will forever change the face of the Great Smokies as we know
them today. We cannot afford to lose even one precious acre in this
magnificent place called, The Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

We are asking the planners of the North Shore Road project, in conjunction
with the National Park Service, to please provide monetary settlement to
the affected Swain County, North Carolina.

This road was proposed to be built as compensation to the county for
several of their roads being flooded in the early part of the 1900's
when the Fontana Dam was built.

[Tha Wookie]

Dixiecritter,

I think your post is great, but after hearing the BMTA spokesman Dick Evans at the SORuck, I have to advise people to comment FOR THE CASH SETTLEMENT OPTION individually. Two reasons from Mr. Evans:

1) "Petitions will be counted as one response only."

2) "A comment against an alternative does not count. It must be a preference for an alternative to count. We [the BMTA] prefer the alternative for a cash settlement to Swain County" [which would be in place of the road, and pay back the County for the money allocated out of its budget for the road].

I don't have that link to do so, and am about to hit the sack, so I hope that link will be posted by some good Samaritan by the morning.

Thanks for bringing this matter to our attention, DC.

[Alligator]

That wasn't Dixicritter.

[timhines]

thanks for stirring the pot so people are reminded to do something, no matter what.

I was thinking about this on my ride to work this morning when I passed a truck with a bumpersticker stating "BUILD THE ROAD."

I think 99% of the people with those stickers don't realize the impact of the road to the county.

[murphyw]

I also heard the person from the BMTA speak at SoRuck, and a search on the web had me posting my preference here: http://www.northshoreroad.info/publicinvolvement.htm

--Bill

[Fiddler]

I think 99% of the people with those stickers don't realize the impact of the road to the county.

That road will also impact the state, as well as the nation. IMO the greatest damage will be to future generations by not allowing them to see and experience the great beauty we once had. Like a harsh word in a moment of anger that cannot be un-said, this damage once done can never be undone.

[vipahman]

Out here in the tri-state area, the AT crosses numerous roads. I can hear a lot of traffic. But that's to be expected because it would be impossible to have 2175 miles of trail without intersecting roads. The AT should NEVER be mistaken for a wilderness trail (some parts in Maine might be an exception). So adding another road doesn't affect me one bit.

That said, the other reasons sound valid enough against the North Shore Road. I'm also against drilling in the Artic and the concept of the Bering Strait Bridge linking Siberia to Alaska.

[Fiddler]

Forgot to mention - I signed the petition.

[bulldog49]

That area is as "virgin" as Madonna. It was logged years ago and is a second growth forest and it will have little effect on the AT.


It is, however, nothing more than a boondoggle and should not be built but at least be honest.

[Sly]

I signed, but as Tha Wookie mentioned, a petition only counts as 1 comment regardless of the number of signitures. I still intend on attending the public hearing in Asheville Febuary 7th and writing my local representitives.

[Sly]

Bulldog, maybe it's you that needs to be honest or atleast better informed. The GSMNP certainly does contain "virgin" forest and a 2 or 4 lane road would certainly impact the AT in the area.

[Sly]

http://www.pigeonforgeonline.com/smo...tain-park.html

Old Growth Forests

Saved from the huge lumber companies when the Park was established, some virgin stands of old-growth trees exist in the Great Smokies. The American Forests organization reports that the Smokies contain 21 national champion sized trees. Will Blozan, a North Carolina arborist has discovered 30 champion-sized trees throughout the southern Appalachians. The Greenbrier section of the Park is home to several beauties. For example, there's a black cherry that has a circumference of 210 inches and a northern red oak measuring 257 inches.

[bulldog49]

There are small "pockets" of virgin forest in the park, mostly on the other side of the crest. The GSMNP is by no means a "vast expanse of virgin forest". There is no such thing on the east coast.

I've hiked through that that part of the park, old logging roads runs run all through that area. To describe it as "Virgin" is a deliberate mischaracterization.

The reason to oppose the road are economic, not environemntal. This is a typical scare tactic the green left uses all the time and why I never believe statements from organizations the Sierra Club. They are exagerated and self-serving.

[timhines]

Out here in the tri-state area, the AT crosses numerous roads. I can hear a lot of traffic. But that's to be expected because it would be impossible to have 2175 miles of trail without intersecting roads. The AT should NEVER be mistaken for a wilderness trail (some parts in Maine might be an exception). So adding another road doesn't affect me one bit.

That said, the other reasons sound valid enough against the North Shore Road. I'm also against drilling in the Artic and the concept of the Bering Strait Bridge linking Siberia to Alaska.

It might not affect you, but I live within 20 minutes of where the road "starts/ends." It would effect me!

I think the road would be a glorified "shotcut." I don't think we need it economically.

[Rain Man]

... To describe it as "Virgin" is a deliberate mischaracterization.

... They are exagerated and self-serving.

Odd? Two sides to the same claim, in the same post!

Rain Man

.

[MOWGLI]

There are small "pockets" of virgin forest in the park, mostly on the other side of the crest. The GSMNP is by no means a "vast expanse of virgin forest". There is no such thing on the east coast.

I've hiked through that that part of the park, old logging roads runs run all through that area. To describe it as "Virgin" is a deliberate mischaracterization.

The reason to oppose the road are economic, not environemntal. This is a typical scare tactic the green left uses all the time and why I never believe statements from organizations the Sierra Club. They are exagerated and self-serving.

Bulldog. You are simply dead, flat-out wrong. There are over 120,000 acres of old growth forest in GSMNP. That represents almost 25% of the park. That's a fact, not a "scare tactic". While there are only a handful of groves that get mentioned because of the size of some of the trees (Albright Grove - for one), there are lots of areas where old growth doesn't jump out at you - yet it is still there.

[halibut15]

I'm sure this is bound to erupt just as many attacks as bulldog's post did, but I agree with what he has to say. The Smokies DO contain much old growth forest, but not one, unbroken tract expanding the length of exactly where the road would pass. As many of you know, the road would pass by or near areas of past settlement. Certainly no vast virgin forest here. I get the feeling bulldog was shooting for speaking out against the road, but was just clarifying the fact that the area is not one continuous tract of old growth timber. As he said, nowhere of that expanse exists in the east.

Secondly, has anyone thought about the statement of what "horrible impacts" the road would have on the AT? Sure more traffic would be involved on and around Fontana Dam on that relatively short section of trail, but the AT only directly impacts the proposed road at one point. Even with the road, the AT would be miles and miles away from the pavement itself, so I don't quite understand the cries of how badly the views will be disrupted. The views had from the AT in the GSMNP are all directly upslope from the proposed building area, making the road scarcely visible at all.

Lastly, I am totally against building the road. It would be an environmental disaster, breaking up one of the biggest truly unbroken ROADLESS tracts of land in the East. The wonderful wilderness experience of the Western Smokies would be irrevocably ruined, and the impacts on the AT would still be felt, especially with more people on this section as a result of easier access to interior sections of the park. The streams of region would feel a large impact, as well as Fontana Lake, from sedimentation and other factors. And to put it plainly, we simply just don't need another road.

[Fiddler]

Let me ask one question. Is there any real necessity for this road? Would it serve any real purpose?
(Well, 2 questions)

[bulldog49]

Halibut, you summed up what I was trying to say. The press release refers to "the largest tract of continous virgin woodlands in the east".

The 25% of the park that is virgin is not a continous tract but spread out. Most, and I believe the largest "tract" (Albright's Grove)" is in the northeast quadrant of the park. The proposed road will run along the north shore of Fontana Lake, an area that was once stripped of trees in the southwestern section. No "virgin" forest will be destroyed.

The whole virgin forest reference is a cynical ploy to rile people up and has no bearing on the issue.

I do however oppose the road as there is no logical purpose for constructing one.

[Max Power]

In reagrds to Halibut15's comment... There are many other trails besides the AT in this area that would be nearly destroyed. Pull out your map and look at how many it would go through. One of the best campsite in the area Campsite 90 on Eagle Creek, would be ruined.
This issue, as you know, is much bigger then the AT.