The U.S. Forest Service has published the final Decision Notice for their Foothills Landscape Project. The project is designed to maintain and restore healthy forest, habitat, and watershed conditions across 157,625 acres within the Chattahoochee National Forest in portions of Dawson, Fannin, Gilmer, Habersham, Lumpkin, Murray, Rabun, and White counties.
Since 2016, partners and community members from across North Georgia have been working together with the Forest Service to address complex conservation challenges across this landscape. According to the USFS, fire-dependent forests and associated open habitat are in decline due to decades of fire suppression. Young forest is practically non-existent.
“The reality facing our forests is that without active management on the ground to increase the resiliency of these ecosystems and difficult decisions for the sustainability of our recreation program, these public lands and all their inhabitants are at severe risk,” says Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest Supervisor Edward Hunter.
The newly-adopted project would apply some limits to commercial logging and offroad activities to prevent stream and soil erosion. The project also calls for active fire management and reforestation efforts. Hunter says the Land and Resource Management Plan, or Forest Plan, signed in 2004 is not adequately meeting its goals and objectives. This new approach should help achieve the following:
- enhance unique habitats;
- improve forest composition and structure;
- reduce risks to forest health;
- maintain the forest’s resilience to climate change;
- increase forest age diversity;
- provide quality habitat for threatened and endangered species;
- increase aquatic habitat quality and connectivity;
- expand the ecological role of fire;
- protect neighboring communities from wildfire;
- and enhance and provide sustainable recreation opportunities.
Among the many proposed actions in the FLP are some specific to Northeast Georgia, including the permanent closure of the Boggs Creek and Oakey Mountain campgrounds in Cleveland and Clayton, respectively. The project also calls for improvements to the Willis Knob Horse Trail in Clayton to correct erosion and drainage problems caused by the illegal use of off-highway vehicles (OHVs) and Jeeps.
“The range of management actions proposed are a necessary step to ensuring these public lands remain healthy and resilient for generations to come,” says Hunter. He adds, that the public-private sector collaboration that helped steer the project will continue. The Forest Service plans to hold annual workshops and is also forming a Foothills Collaborative Group to guide the project’s implementation.
“I value the differing perspectives of our public and choose to see opportunities in our differences, rather than obstacles,” Hunter says. “Since the project was first scoped in October 2017, we as managers have listened, learned, corrected, and evolved alongside the project. I am confident this current decision reflects that evolution and provides the necessary actions to truly meet the ecological need of this forest for future generations to come.”
To learn more about the Foothills Landscape Project, visit www.fs.usda.gov/goto/Foothills.
Dean Dyer of WRWH News contributed to this report
