Future Wilderness:
Updated 12/7/06
"We must recognize that all of our land is destined to be put to some human use. If any of it is to be preserved in its natural condition, it must be as the deliberate setting aside of it for our human use of it in a natural condition." Howard Zahniser,
author of the Wilderness Act
1964Roadless* Areas are the basis for future Wilderness designations on the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests. Congress must do any such designation. Usually Congress relies on the recommendations made by the US Forest Service at the time a Forest Management Plan is being revised. The Plan for our NC Forests are not being revised at this time, though it is time for this. It is critically important to establish support now for the existing Roadless Areas, so that when the revision does occur, and opposition from the Bush Administration and the loggers is finally overcome, decent Wilderness proposals can be made. The Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition published its "Conservation Vision for the Southern Appalachians" in Spring of 2002, providing additional support for more forest protection.
With the defeat of congressman Charles Taylor in the 2006 election, a major barrier to the designation of Wilderness Areas in western N.C. was removed. We can now hope to finally designate the five Wilderness Study Areas first created in the North Carolina Wilderness Act of 1984, as well as work toward designating some of the many Roadless Areas as Wilderness. The five WSA's are Lost Cove, Harper Creek, Craggy Mountains, Snowbird, and Overflow, all of which have been managed as Wilderness since 1984.
* Note: Roadless Areas are obviously areas without roads, but this is not as simple a definition as it would appear. Most of the Eastern national forests have been lived-in and/or logged in the past, so there are lots of old skid trails and roads, some so overgrown it is hard to tell they are there, but many that are now the basis for trails still used. The Forest Service has a definition of "Roadless" which does not count "undriveable" roads like those impassable even to a 4-wheel drive vehicle. All-terrain vehicle roads do not count as roads. There is some fuzziness about roads that are 4-wheel drive passable but not ordinary passenger vehicle passable. The definition of "Roadless Area" permits the existence of .5 miles of defined "road" per 1000 acres.
Areas over 5000 acres in size (or smaller areas connecting to existing Wilderness Areas) meeting the Forest Service definition are "Inventoried Roadless Areas". These areas have special status under Forest Service Rules, and these are also the areas that the Clinton Administration sought to protect from future logging and roading with its Roadless Area Rules, the Rules that the Bush folks are gutting.
However the fact that the Forest Service has identified many areas as "Inventoried Roadless Areas", with the clear understanding that these places will be evaluated for future Wilderness, gives conservationists more ability to fight to protect them, like calling for full Environmental Impact Statements before damage is done. We are also fighting to pull in additional "Wild" areas that did not meet the Forest Service's understanding of the definitions of "Roadless".
The quarrel with the Bush Administration and the Forest Service over Roadless Areas is therefore key to the future protection and status of these places.