The U.S. Forest Service is considering the closure of an extensive 4-wheel drive trail system in the Nantahala National Forest. They say the erosion caused by the trail system is causing serious damage to the Tellico River. Click HERE to read the details. One reader responds below. Click HERE to e-mail your opinion.
A park is only loved as much as it is used. A park can only be protected as much as it is loved.
The National Forest Service is going to ban off-road enthusiasts from Tellico. The trails will be closed and access restricted. In allowing the Forest Service to implement these changes, a large group of people who would and do use the area will be prohibited from doing so. As a consequence of their desired activity being criminalized, they will no longer visit Tellico. Because they will not use the park, they will not love it and will not fight to protect it from mining, logging, or development. For most environmentalists, regulators and legislators, this relationship is lost. They fail to see that by excluding people from experiencing the very parks/areas they claim to protect, they are jeopardizing the long-term sustainability of public land.
Our nation is energy-hungry and the buffet is running out of grub. In coming decades, America will cast its ravenous eyes at the untapped potential of the national parks and forests. When that time comes, who will be left to protect our land? A few local picnickers sparsely scattered about? Or a coalition of hikers, mountain bikers, off-roaders, equestrians, hunters and fishermen who all love the parks and will fight to freely use them?
For those who would smugly disregard this argument as preposterous and claim our government will never take our land from us; I refer you to the economic events of the past year and the federal government’s quick and drastic response.
Dr. CF Beets
Concord, TN
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The National Park Service’s closure of the Off-Road trails at the Upper Tellico is a direct form of discrimination. What else can you call it?
Shutting out one group of individuals (off-road enthusiasts), for the sake
of another group (TU), is nothing else. I have ridden a large portion of these trails; I have first hand knowledge that many steps have been taken to help prevent erosion and run-off. There are ‘silt traps’ at turns to prevent direct run-off. Some stream crossings are rock bottoms; there have been bridges built across many others. Trails are monitored for abuse, and corrections are made if any possibility of erosion or run-off might exceed natural/normal amounts.
It is simply beyond my ability to comprehend the philosophy of shutting
this outdoor area down to protect it from people. Like it or not, people inhabit this world; people make marks on this world; people cannot be excluded from the entire world, just to save it FROM them!
I fully agree that steps should be taken (they ARE) to mitigate the down-stream effect of some actions, but you can’t reasonably shut down entire areas: we ALL live down-stream from some sort of man-made activity. Occupying this
planet requires that each of us make some sacrifices, but not to the exclusion of an entire (large) group.
Please help the powers-that-be rethink this proposed action, and come to
some effective (compromised) solution that can allow more than one group access to this area.
Ed Miller
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I'm not an off-road enthusiast, but I am an outdoor recreationalist. I responded to the Forest Service comment period with the following:
While off-road is not something in which I participate, I do feel strongly
that it is important that our nation's public areas provide opportunities
for various recreational activities. The OHV area at the Tellico is apparently highly regarded in that field. I do not feel that it should be closed to that activity. If there are issues with run-off to the river I think means should be found to stem that, not close off the area. I have paddled on the Tellico and have found many of the off-road users to be class acts and environmentally sensitive (just as with paddlers, there are always some who are not). I recommend before taking any kind of action that you contact those folks and brainstorm about solutions to any issues so that the area can remain open. Thank you.
Lois Newton
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Despite the arguments of a few, the forest service proposals which include a possible closure of the Upper Tellico/Nantahala ORV trails
is not based on any discriminatory animus against off-road enthusiats in favor of members of TU or any other group. It represents the
overdue recognition of the unfortunate and substantial impact that the ORV trials have on the Tellico River watershed.
There is no doubt that off-road vehicle trails provide valuable recreational opportunities. Unfortunately, in environmentally sensative
areas, such trails can have devastating consequences that reach far beyond the actual trails. This is best illustrated by the trails
at issue. Large portions of the Upper Tellico/Nantahala ORV trails have turned into deep mud trenches which can be over ten feet deep. On the
surface of the standing water formed by the large mudholes there is usually a film of oil and petroleum by-products from the vehicles driving through
the sludge. The area has also been denuded of vegatative ground cover which results in a large runoffs of this sludge mixture being washed directly
into the tributaries and the main Tellico River.
The Tellico River and its tributaries, if properly managed, has the potential of being the jewel of the SouthEast. It is one of the last areas in
Tennessee where native brook trout naturally reproduce. It is also the home of countless other species such as river otter, bobcat, kingfishers and
salamander which are all dependant on the rivers. Any management efforts are pointless if the quality of the water is not preserved.
The effect of the ORV trails on the water quality has been dramatic. Even light rain results in lethal silt levels for the fish and aquatic insects. The natural
pebbles and gravel of the stream bed has become caked with brown sludge. The aquatic food base for the fish has been reduced, and areas which
are used as spawning beds have become barren. Without the ability to either feed or reproduce, the continued existence of the aquatic life is grim.
The forest service has a duty to balance the interests of users of a particular resource with the effects of the use on the land. I can understand the loss
that ORV users may feel if they are not allowed to continue to use the trials in the area. Because of development, forest service lands are some of the last
areas where such trails can be found. Unfortunately, there is no amount of remedial trail work that will lessen the effects of the trails on the rivers.
The utility of the activity when weighed against the devastating and permanent consequences of the activity lead to only possible scenario: the trails must be closed.
I applaud the forest service for finally recognizing this long term battle between the ORV users and the those who have been concerned about the water quality. I only hope
that they have the courage to put their "preference" of trail closure into action. I also hope that they find alternative portions of forest service lands where ORV trials
will not adversly affect the area and designate them as ORV areas. I also encourage anyone who is concerned about this issue to visit the area and see first hand
the trails and river at issue so that informed opinions may be expressed.
David D.
Chattanooga, TN
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Thank you for closing this road should have done a long time ago!
Hal Weeks
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Dear David D,
In response to your letter on the United States Forest Service (USFS) proposal to close the Upper Tellico OHV area permanently, I feel I must offer a counter-point to your letter. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a member of a few groups who are fighting to keep Tellico open. These groups are the Southeastern Toyota Land Cruiser Association (STLCA), the Southern Four Wheel Drive Association (SFWDA), and the Blue Ribbon Coalition (BRC). This is not an official response, just my personal observations, but I wanted to be clear of my associations.
There are several issues that I feel deserve correction, or at the least be amended to reflect the true history and current status of the area. First, while several of the trails are entrenched ("dug out" in your parlance), it would be helpful for people to understand that these trails were designed and constructed to be entrenched at the direction of the USFS in the 1980s. In other words, the trails haven't eroded, they were cut with a dozer to channel water as that was thought at the time to be a Best Management Practice (BMP) by the USFS. Also, from the USFS Environmental Assessment (EA), the entrenched trails (Trails 6 & 12) contributing the most, by their errant calculations, "soil lost" have ZERO segments within 100ft of a mapped stream (USFS EA pp 27-28, 34).
You choose to cite no source for your claims that "even a light rain results in lethal silt levels", nor for the "stream bed has become caked with brown sludge", nor for your baseless claim that "the aquatic food base has been reduced". I would invite you to examine in-depth the independent analysis commissioned by SFWDA and performed by Caliber Engineering (Greenville, SC) in late 2008 (http://www.sfwda.org/trails/tellico/study09/index.htm). This report directly addresses your concerns and proves that "degradation of water quality and aquatic in Upper Tellico is non-existent". This report goes in to great detail on the health of the watershed, and I encourage those concerned on all sides to read and study it.
The Caliber report also addresses your concern that "no amount of remedial trail work will lessen the effects of the trails on the rivers." The report concludes the "current deteriorated trail conditions are largely a result of too many years of neglected maintenance by the USFS..." The Caliber report agrees with the USFS own Trails Unlimited conclusion that "closure of any of the trails is neither warranted nor recommended", and that all issues identified in the report can be addressed with modern engineering designs.
In conclusion, I, like David D., encourage all interested parties to visit the area, and I'll even offer to take folks around and show them the areas that draw people from all over the country and make Tellico a destination in the OHV world.
Todd Shirley
STLCA Vice President
Chattanooga, TN
dashtrucker@gmail.com