'Waiting game:' Forest Service hears final objections against Pisgah forest management plan

ASHEVILLE - Three days of objection resolution meetings left some advocates "cautiously optimistic," but still wary of a 30-year forest land management plan they fear could increase logging in the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests.

“I felt like, maybe for the first time, the Forest Service is actually listening,” said Will Harlan, a scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

He spoke at the objection meetings on behalf of I Heart Pisgah, a coalition of over 150 organizations of businesses, and thousands of individuals that supports greater protections and less logging in the Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest.

Previous coverage:

• Asheville protesters urge US Forest Service to decrease logging in Pisgah National Forest

• Final Nantahala and Pisgah forest plan charts course for recreation, timber, climate change

• Nantahala, Pisgah plan: Only about 5% of almost 14,000 objectors eligible, says Forest Service

The objection meetings, which were held Aug. 2-4, came just a day after Harlan and other advocates led almost 500 people to the doorstep of the U.S. Forest Service headquarters in North Asheville.

“We’ve been toiling behind the scenes, fighting with the Forest Service over technical details, and to see the public step up and say loudly and clearly that they want to see more of Pisgah protected was a real, real jolt of energy and excitement into this plan," Harlan said.

The meetings were a last effort in a 10-year process — a final opportunity for those objecting to the plan to make themselves heard by the Forest Service.

Now, Harlan said, the "waiting game" begins.

According to Forest Service spokesperson Cathy Dowd, following the objection meetings, the Forest Service team, led by reviewing officer and Deputy Regional Forester Rick Lint, will continue its work of reviewing all the objections and considering potential remedies.

Lint will prepare a response to all of the objection topics that will be issued later this fall.

"That objection response may contain instructions for the forest to follow before the forest supervisor issues a final decision," Dowd said. "The final plan could be out by the end of this year or early next year depending on the outcome of the review."

She said it's too soon to say if substantive changes to the plan will be instituted.

The 360-page land management plan and 738-page environmental impact statement, part of the entire plan that weighs in at around 3,000 pages, will help guide the management of more than 1.1 million acres of Western North Carolina forestland for the next decade and beyond.

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Let's get to work

In his closing remarks, Lint said he felt the "weight on his shoulders" following three high-intensity days of input, critique and discussion.

He noted the theme of "more" — more old growth, more protections, and "more of everything."

"I don’t know if we can deliver more of everything unless we made more Pisgah and Nantahala … but if you think about it, that’s some of the weight that I feel, that’s the nexus that we’re at," Lint said.

Objectors to the plan, like Harlan, say it will quadruple logging in the national forests, building hundreds of miles of new roads and weakening protections for trails, trout streams and old-growth forest.

Harlan said his objections boiled down to four major requests for change in the current plan: protect all of the Craggy/Big Ivy section of the national forests, protect all natural heritage areas, protect ephemeral streams and reconsider hundreds of additional miles of logging roads until current maintenance backlogs are addressed.

He said these four "simple solutions," would go a long way, "but it's in their hands."

Likewise, Sam Evans with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said despite the sprawl and complexity of the plan, there is an "easy answer:" a set of solutions crafted by the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Partnership.

Among these are "tailored allocations," which break all 1.1 million acres of the forest into designations of how it should be managed — from ecological restoration to timber production.

"We've done it in a way that if the Forest Service would follow that road map, they would have a broadly supported plan," Evans said.

Of the objection meetings, he said, "this was our first opportunity, literally in years, to discuss some of these issues with the Forest Service. Given that backdrop, I thought it was remarkably successful."

But even so, there's only so much you can accomplish in three days, he said.

Among the few areas discussed specifically was the Craggy/Big Ivy section of the national forests. The city of Asheville was a primary objector in that discussion.

Senior Assistant City Attorney Eric Edgerton told the Citizen Times that Asheville City Council felt the draft plan fails to adequately protect the region. It places 4,000 acres of Craggy/Big Ivy, home to one of the last and only old growth forests in the Asheville area, in its highest priority logging destinations.

"In my comments on behalf of the city, I specifically noted that Asheville is deeply concerned about the impacts of climate change, and has taken concrete actions geared toward protecting Asheville's urban canopy," Edgerton said.

"I expressed my hope that the Forest Service would join with us in our efforts to preserve trees in the region, by protecting the full Craggy/Big Ivy region from timber harvesting."

At any given time during the three days of meetings, about 60-70 people were tuned in, with dozens of primary objectors and interested persons.

Lint emphasized that these are not decisions the Forest Service takes lightly.

“We are at the enviable or unenviable place where we have decisions to make,” Lint said before closing out the meeting.

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"Time to get to work," Lint said.

2 paths forward

Harlan said once the plan is published it will mean either celebration or "decades of increased conflict."

“This is kind of a wonky technical plan in some ways," Harlan said. "But it’s also probably the most important document in Western North Carolina that effects all of our health, our air, our water (and) our pocket books."

After almost a decade of conversations, Evans said he also hopes for change.

“What came up for me during the meetings, time and time again, was just how much work both the Forest Service staff and stakeholders have put into this process in spheres that never really touched each other," Evans said.

"If we can’t figure out how to bring them together here at the end, we’re sort of doomed.”

Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. 

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Pisgah-Nantahala Forest Service advocates object plan. Here's what's next