The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the US Forest Service entered into an agreement on Monday that gives TWRA the authority to perform forest management activities on National Forest System Lands. The agreement enhances the long-standing cooperative agreement with TWRA and the Forest Service to jointly manage the wildlife resources in the Cherokee National Forest.
At an annual meeting between the two agencies, TWRA Executive Director Ed Carter and Cherokee National Forest Supervisor JaSal Morris signed the agreement, which is officially titled the Good Neighbor Authority. Put simply, the intent of the GNA is to allow TWRA to perform work on national forest lands on behalf of the Forest Service. Among other things, the agreement provides the ability to work across jurisdictional boundaries and treat the landscape in a mixed federal/state ownership setting. It also fosters a collaborative approach in addressing land management challenges and provides the ability to leverage state resources to accomplish work on National Forest Service System lands. The GNA was made possible by The Agricultural Act of 2014 (Farm Bill), which authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Interior to enter into agreements with states to carry out authorized restoration services.
The agreement that was entered into is called a Five-year Master Agreement, meaning there will not be any specific projects or work identified at this time. This document however lays the framework for supplemental project agreements that can be signed later when funding and projects are identified. Examples of projects that might be done through GNA supplemental agreements include forest management, wildlife and fisheries habitat restoration and management, and marking timber for sales. By harvesting timber, forest openings are created which benefit species that depend on early successional habitat. Examples of work that cannot be done under the GNA includes construction of buildings and roads.
Both TWRA Director Carter and Forest Supervisor Morris both pointed out that the Cherokee National Forest, covering about 650,000 acres, is the largest Wildlife Management Area in the state. US Forest Service Wildlife Biologist for the South Zone of the Cherokee National Forest, Philip Earhart echoed this sentiment by stating, “The Good Neighbor master agreement really frames up what the agencies agree to do and puts us in a really great position to capitalize and make the most of the natural resources that we manage together for the benefit of users.”