Press Release: Logging project in Nantahala National Forest violates federal law, new lawsuit alleges

Press release from the Southern Environmental Law Center, Center for Biological Diversity, Chattooga Conservancy, Defenders of Wildlife, MountainTrue, and Sierra Club

For immediate release: January 31, 2024

ASHEVILLE, N.C — On Wednesday, a coalition of conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service, alleging the agency’s plans to log a sensitive area of the Nantahala National Forest violate federal law.

The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the challenge on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Chattooga Conservancy, Defenders of Wildlife, MountainTrue, and Sierra Club. The lawsuit was filed in federal district court for the Western District of North Carolina.

The lawsuit centers around parts of the Southside Timber Project that aim to log areas near the Whitewater River in the Nantahala National Forest. The landscape boasts stunning waterfalls, towering oak trees, and critical habitat for rare species. Both the Forest Service and State of North Carolina have recognized the area slated for logging as an exceptional ecological community with some of the highest biodiversity values in the state.

Because of the scenic beauty and ecological importance of the area, the Forest Service designated it as a “Special Interest Area” in the recently published Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan. Destructive projects, like logging and roadbuilding, are significantly restricted in Special Interest Areas. The agency is contradicting its own designation with this logging project.

Released last year, the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan falls short on many levels and fails to adequately protect the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests. As a result, more than 14,000 people objected to the plan.

Limiting logging in the area subject to the lawsuit was one of the few things the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan got right, yet the Forest Service is poised to undermine it by plowing ahead with this reckless and unpopular timber project.

Below are quotes from conservation groups about the litigation:

“Logging in this area so harmful that it is inconsistent even with a Forest Plan that fails to protect the values that make the Nantahala National Forest exceptional,” Patrick Hunter, Managing Attorney of the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Asheville Office, said. “The Forest Service must scrap this reckless logging project in order to comply with federal law.”

“The Southside timber sale shows that Forest Service leaders are more interested in logging than protecting rare and beloved landscapes,” said Will Harlan, Southeast Director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The public strongly opposes logging this ecologically unique forest beside a trout stream and waterfall, but the Forest Service wants to cut it down anyway. This is a clear and heartbreaking example of the conflicts we can expect to see under the new Forest Plan.”

“The Southside Project is a case study of the Forest Service’s reckless resolve to push harmful logging onto exceptional landscapes,” said Nicole Hayler, Director of the Chattooga Conservancy. “Logging in this area along the Whitewater River is a prime example of the root of the problem: deeply flawed, perverse incentives driving the Forest Service to hit mandated timber targets, which is why the entire Southside Project should be dropped.”

“For more than a decade, conservation organizations like Defenders of Wildlife have advocated for the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan to establish clear standards and guidelines for the conservation and recovery of rare species,” said Ben Prater, Southeast Program Director for Defenders of Wildlife. “While the plan falls short in many respects, we were pleased that a Special Interest Area was designated for portions of the ecologically important habitats that were threatened by the Southside Timber Project. However, the Southside Timber Project is still being pushed forward and could damage the ecological integrity of this important area by affecting the habitats of rare species like green salamanders and cerulean warblers, as well as federally listed species like the northern long-eared bat. Allowing an egregious project like this to move forward erodes the public trust and signals that the Forest Service is unwilling to comply with its own plan.”

“With both the Forest Plan and this Southside Timber Sale, Forest Service leaders have put commercial logging first and ignored federal law and overwhelming public support for conserving our most beloved natural areas and landscapes,” Josh Kelly, public lands field biologist for MountainTrue, said. “Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are big enough to accommodate sustainable logging practices and create new early successional habitats for hunters without destroying an area that the Forest Service itself has deemed an ‘exceptional ecological community’; with ‘features that are not found anywhere else in […] the Eastern United States.’; Unfortunately, it looks like it’s going to take a public interest lawsuit to get the Forest Service to act responsibly and comply with federal law.”

“Logging in this particular scenic and ecologically rich area, to supposedly accomplish management goals that can easily happen in more appropriate places, is exactly why we have longstanding concerns about the Forest Service’s planning process,” said David Reid, Sierra Club National Forest Issue Chair.

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Take Action to Protect Old-Growth and Mature Forests in Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests

The U.S. Forest Service has announced a plan to amend all 128 forest management plans nationwide — including the plan for the Pisgah-Nantahala National Forests — in accordance with President Biden’s Executive Order directing his administration to conserve old-growth forests.

This is a critical opportunity to fix some of the issues with the deeply flawed Pisgah-Nantahala management plan that placed 100,000 acres of old-growth forests, natural heritage areas, roadless areas, and sensitive habitats in zones that are open to commercial logging. You can take action in two ways:

Sign our petition calling on the Forest Service to amend the Nantahala Pisgah National Forests management plan to protect our old-growth forests.
(Deadline: Feb. 2, 9 AM)
Submit your own unique public comment through the Forest Service portal.
(Deadline: Feb. 2, 11:59 PM)

Old-growth forests store large amounts of carbon, clean the air we breathe, maintain and increase biodiversity, filter water, and reduce wildfire risks. The old-growth forests of the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests are home to several endangered and threatened species, including four species of endangered bats and the imperiled Blue Ridge lineage of green salamanders.

The amendments proposed by the Forest Service should create standards for the protection of all old-growth forests on National Forest Lands. It’s important that the new rule is strong enough to protect the rich biodiversity of our region and to keep these massive carbon stores firmly rooted in the soil to mitigate climate change and flexible enough to allow for the restoration of old-growth stand structure and wildfire resilience.

Thank you for your commitment to resilient forests. Please take action today.

No Man’s Land Film Festival 2024

2024

No Man’s Land Film Festival

Presented on December 3 at the River Arts District Brewing Co. in Asheville, NC. Free registration is required for in-person & virtual attendees. All registered participants of the virtual screening will be entered into a drawing to win a MountainTrue Hellbender Beanie!

In-person screening

Register: virtual screening

Though the screenings are free, we humbly ask that anyone able consider making a donation to support MountainTrue and our continued efforts in recovery and resilience after Hurricane Helene.

About the event

MountainTrue is proud to invite you to No Man’s Land Film Festival (NMLFF) – the premier all-women adventure film festival featuring environmentally-focused documentary shorts – at the RAD Brewing Co. in Asheville, NC, on December 3 (Giving Tuesday!). NMLFF is free to attend, and the event will also be available virtually for those who cannot attend in person. The NMLFF in-person screening is first come first serve – be sure to arrive early to get your seat(s)!

Learn more about NMLFF here.

In-person Screening Info: Seating is General Admission so come early to save your spot. Doors open at 6 p.m., showtime is at 7 p.m. Due to limited capacity, you MUST pre-register to attend the in-person screening. The RAD Brewing Company has free popcorn available and will have beer, wine and n/a drinks for sale. Guests are welcome to bring their own snacks or food to the show.

Location: The RAD Brewing Company 13 Mystery St. Asheville, NC 28801

Virtual Screening Info: Films will be available to screen from at 7 p.m. through midnight on December 3. Guests will receive an email with the viewing link and password upon signing up. All registered participants of the virtual screening will be entered into a drawing to win a MountainTrue Hellbender Beanie!

Become a MountainTrue member

Click here

Thank you to our Presenting Sponsor

Thank you to our Supporting Sponsors

Thank you to our Venue Sponsor

Petition: Ask Ingles, Walmart, Target, CVS and other businesses in NC to stop using disposable, single-use plastics.

Single-use plastics clog up Western North Carolina’s rivers and streams and break down into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics. Once in waterways, these microplastics are consumed by aquatic life forms, which are then ingested by the larger organisms that eat them, including humans. The bioaccumulation of these plastics and the additives used to make them can be harmful or toxic to both wildlife and people.

Plastic pollution is a global problem. We all need to be part of the solution, including our grocers, retailers, and the business community. Sign our petition and join the movement for a Plastic-Free WNC. We’ll bring your signatures to local business owners and lawmakers and work with them to address our plastic pollution problem at the source.

Sign the Petition

WE WANT A PLASTIC-FREE WNC:

I believe it’s time for INGLES, WALMART, TARGET, CVS, AND OTHER BUSINESSES IN WNC to quit using disposable, single-use plastics. We don’t want plastic shopping bags and styrofoam forced onto us or our environment because:

plastics are made from a byproduct of hydrofracking, which includes fossil fuel extraction;
the oil and gas industry’s efforts to increase plastic production as a means to shore up their business model has been well documented;
oil refineries, plastic manufacturers, and incinerators tend to be located in low-income communities, which bear the brunt of the associated health impacts;
recycling is insufficient to meet these threats as plastic production is expected to increase 40 percent over the next decade, with plastic production accounting for 20 percent of global fossil fuel consumption. Less than 5 percent of plastic is recycled, and that percentage has been dropping since the implementation of China’s National Sword policy in January of 2018;
numerous studies have documented the prevalence of plastic carry-out bags littering the environment, blocking storm drains, becoming entangled in treetops, and fouling public areas;
curbing the supply of single-use plastic will expand the lifespan of local landfills;
numerous studies have shown the negative environmental and health effects of plastics and the chemicals used to produce them;
styrene, the main ingredient in polystyrene, has been declared a probable carcinogen by the NIH, National Research Council, the World Health Organization, and others;
plastic bags and other plastic products are a substantial source of marine debris, responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of marine animals each year;
studies have shown the presence of microplastics in terrestrial and marine life systems throughout the entire planet, resulting in wholesale contamination of the food supply due to the proliferation of plastic litter and plastic breakdown products;
plastic bags cause operational problems at recycling processing facilities, landfills, and transfer stations, and contribute to litter throughout the WNC region;
numerous states and cities throughout the United States have enacted single-use plastic bag plastic bans, resulting in dramatic decreases in plastics waste; and
many countries throughout the world have banned plastic bags and/or single-use plastics, including China, Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Ireland, India, Eritrea, Benin, Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Mali, Tunisia, Malawi, Mauritania, The Gambia, Kenya, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Cameroon, Morocco, Togo, Cabo Verde, Burundi, and Guinea-Bissau; and
single-use plastics break down into microplastics which have been found and quantified in all our region’s watershed.

Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC Intern Description

Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC Intern

About Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC & Position Description:

Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC is a program of MountainTrue, a regional nonprofit organization championing resilient forests, clean waters, and healthy communities in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains. We know that healthy communities exist within the context of a healthy environment — and right now, both are threatened. There is a housing crisis across the country, with many hard-working families unable to find an affordable place to live. There is also a climate crisis, with greenhouse gas emissions threatening the stability of all our planet’s ecosystems and biodiversity. Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC advocates for building dense, infill housing within existing communities as a way to increase the housing supply for our neighbors while also minimizing carbon emissions by decreasing vehicle miles traveled, preserving farms and forests from additional sprawl development, and reducing energy demand by building small, multi-family housing instead of large, single-detached housing. An intern for Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC will support program goals by creating social media content, conducting general program outreach, event planning, research on best practices in the pro-housing movement, and more.

Start date: Flexible within the month of January 2024
End date: Flexible

Work schedule: Flexible between 4-12 hours/week

Compensation: Mileage reimbursed at approximately $0.655 per mile

Location: This position will work with staff in our Asheville office, though much of the work can be done remotely.

Supervisor: Susan Bean, MountainTrue Housing & Transportation Director

Please answer the following questions in your cover letter and attach that document when submitting your application form:

What skills and experience can you bring to this internship?
What skills and experience are you hoping to gain from the internship?
Is this internship for school credit or for personal experience?
What connection do you see between the built environment and the natural areas MountainTrue is working to protect?

Applications due by October 30, 2023. Including a resume is optional. Apply through this form.

ACTION: Support Road Safety in Downtown Asheville

Let the City of Asheville know that you support making College Street and Patton Avenue safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders.

Take Action to Support Complete Streets for Asheville

The City of Asheville is wavering in its commitment to complete streets and needs your support for the College/Patton project today. MountainTrue has long been a supporter of complete street projects that make moving through our communities safer, easier, and more environmentally sustainable. Our new program Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC also supports such projects as a way to mitigate congestion in our city centers as we make room for more residents there. City staff and traffic engineers have studied this project and responded to community concerns along the way. They have improved the design, consulted with emergency responders, and compared vehicular traffic patterns to other streets in town to demonstrate that this new design would not create the congestion that some opponents of this project fear. Their expert analysis and process have built upon multiple studies and plans that have recommended projects like this one since the 2009 Downtown Master Plan. However, our city’s leadership needs to hear from more voices that support turning College Street and Patton Avenues into complete streets with buffered bike lanes and high-visibility crosswalks. Take action today to encourage Asheville City Council to vote in support of the College/Patton project and make our downtown safer for all users.

Take Action

Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC advocates for more attainable housing that is built in places and at a scale that most benefits the health of our natural environment. We support attainable housing in and near our city centers because that is an efficient use of infrastructure, it decreases our overall carbon footprint, and also because we want our downtowns to be vibrant, thriving, inclusive places that all people in our community both can and want to access and enjoy. We believe that investments in infrastructure that make downtowns more pedestrian friendly, rather than vehicle oriented, pay off by activating our city center in a personal way and on a human scale. Bike lanes are a part of that landscape not just because they benefit bicyclists, but also because the less car-centric we make our downtown, the more people-centered it becomes. Complete street projects enable vehicle access and safer options for other road users, and, ultimately, we believe that complete streets in our city center will benefit businesses by making downtown a place that residents will want to spend more time and money in.

Join us in supporting complete street investments in downtown Asheville by supporting the College/Patton Project today. Click here to read our letter of support for the College Street and Patton Avenue Redesign Project.