Protect Pisgah Party + Rally for the Forest

Eight environmental organizations** and a coalition of more than 100 local businesses are organizing a rally to protect the country’s most popular national forest! The Protect Pisgah Party + Rally for the Forest will highlight the vast, overwhelming public and political support for protecting the Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest. The rally will be held outside the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) headquarters in Asheville on Monday, August 1 from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m., just before a week of decisive meetings.

USFS is finalizing a 30-year forest plan that will decide where logging will occur in the one-million-acre Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest and what areas will be protected. 

USFS’ proposed forest plan fails to protect 100,000+ acres of these biologically diverse and ancient forests by leaving them open to logging. The plan also threatens many streams and rivers by relaxing standards for steep slope logging and allowing up to 200 miles of road construction over 20 years. 

USFS’ final forest plan discussions begin the day after the Protect Pisgah Party + Rally for the Forest. “On the eve of the final forest plan meetings, let’s show decision-makers the vast, overwhelming love and support for protecting Pisgah,” says Will Harlan, senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. 

Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer and Buncombe County Commission Chair Brownie Newman are scheduled to speak at the event. Both the City of Asheville and the Buncombe County Commission have passed unanimous bipartisan resolutions supporting stronger protections for Pisgah. Asheville and Buncombe County have also formally objected to the forest plan.

Event organizers: MountainTrue, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, The Wilderness Society, Forest Keeper, Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of Big Ivy, and the I Heart Pisgah coalition.