This deadline is short, but please help if you can. We'd love for the Forest Service to feel supported by the ForestWatch community on this.

Remember the Anderson Creek OHV Area fiasco? The Tellico area is is larger and in worse condition than Anderson Creek!

The Forest Service is asking for comments on its plan to address water quality violations inby the 39-mile Tellico Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) Area on the NC/TN border near Murphy, NC - with their preferred alternative being to permanently close the area to motorized use.

We're asking our members to help by submitting comments that support this preferred alternative.

What to say:

Contact the Forest Service and let them know you support the agency permanently closing the Tellico ORV Area to protect water quality and trout habitat (Alternative C).

Where to send your comments:

E-mail your comments to the Forest Service:

comments-southern-north-carolina-nantahala-tusquitee@fs.fed.us

More Info:

The Tellico ORV Area has already been temporarily closed and we're hopeful to see permanent closure once the Forest Service has finished their final decision process.

Why the Tellico ORV Area is a problem for water quality:

• Approximately 75,000 tons of soil have been displaced from the trail system since it was created, causing area streams to violate state water quality standards.
• Streams affected by the trails are embedded with sand and silt, which inhibits trout spawning and smothers the aquatic food chain.
• Management strategies to control sediment runoff are ineffective due to highly erosive soils, and heavy rainfall and the impacts of ATVs, OHVs etc.
  

Because this issue is in the national spotlight, it's important that we get the Forest Service as much support as possible.

For those of you new to this issue, here's an acronym translation:

• ATV: All terrain vehicle
• OHV: Off highway vehicle
• ORV: Off road vehicle

All of these terms refer to various kinds of vehicles with powerful engines and aggressive tires designed for recreational travel off our standard road system. These vehicles can be very destructive on the steep slopes of our mountain forests, churning up loose soil and causing sediment to bleed into nearby springs and trout streams. Fouling streams on national forests is destructive and illegal.

To see the Forest Service news release, Environmental Assessment and other documents pertinent to this issue go to: www.cs.unca.edu/nfsnc/press/tellico_ea_news_release.pdf

Thanks so very much for protecting the forests of the Southern Appalachians!