Action Expired

The U.S. Forest Service has released an extreme set of proposed changes that would cut the public almost entirely out of decisions affecting our public lands. Will you speak out against the Forest Service’s proposal and protect the public’s role in public lands below?

The proposal would make dramatic changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which allows the public to have a say about the plans for government projects like new roads and timber sales. By requiring public input and a review of the environmental impacts of government projects, NEPA keeps these decisions from being made behind closed doors.

Here are just a few of the Forest Service’s proposed changes to NEPA:

• A loophole to allow logging up to 4,200 acres at one time (6.6 square miles!) without environmental review or public input. In Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest, that’s the same as five years worth of logging at current levels all at once.
• Cutting the public out of decisions to build up to five new miles of road at a time and to close roads used by the public to access hunting areas, fishing streams, and trails.
• No longer requiring mining projects affecting fewer than 640 acres to have environmental review. 
• Allowing multiple Categorical Exclusions – activities the Forest Service has decided generally don’t require environmental review or public input – to apply to the same project. This is currently against the law, and would allow projects like timber sales to be significantly larger and more destructive.

We deserve to have a say about government projects affecting our communities.

Action Expired

The Buck Project has the potential to be the most destructive timber sale in Nantahala National Forest in more than 30 years. Submit your public comment below to protect the vibrant ecosystems, pristine waters and old-growth forests that are on the chopping block.

The Buck Creek Project would occur in the Nantahala National Forest in Clay County, NC. Every proposed timber sale in a national forest must have alternatives, and right now the one the Forest Service is recommending – Alternative B – would cut 845 acres and build 9.1 miles of roads, causing significant erosion and harm to sensitive wildlife species like the seepage salamander and the brown creeper. The plan would also include logging at least six old growth areas and logging in the Chunky Gal potential wilderness area, a 7,000 acre swath of land that has gained support for a wilderness designation from the diverse stakeholders in the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Partnership.

Alternatives Modified B and C would also do great harm, degrading the character of the area and interior forests. MountainTrue supports Alternative D, the only one that would not harm the Chunky Gal and Botetler Peak areas, but even this alternative should be revised to include the full water quality improvements and controlled burns that are available in other alternatives.

Take the action below to tell the Forest Service: Protect the Chunky Gal potential wilderness area, old-growth forest and sensitive wildlife species in the Buck Project.