Southern sportsmen, conservationists sue to protect native trout from ORVs
Located in North Carolina's Nantahala National Forest, the Tellico Off-Road Vehicle Area is one of the most heavily used ORV zones on public lands in the Southeast, with twice as many designated ORV trails as allowed by the U.S. Forest Service in addition to many illegal trails. Some of those trails lie with 100 feet of streams, which violates Forest Service rules. Many of those streams also flow into the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee.Heavy use has turned some of the area's trails into ditches as deep as 7 feet, and when it rains they send muddy water into nearby creeks and streams in violation of state and federal water laws. The runoff is destroying one of the last strongholds for brook trout, a native species in decline.
Sportsmen and conservation groups have repeatedly asked the Forest Service to take steps to halt the damaging ORV traffic, to little avail. So now Trout Unlimited's North Carolina and Tennessee councils, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project have announced their intent to sue the agency to take action.
"The Forest Service has come up short in taking decisive action to fix this problem," says attorney DJ Gerken of the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents the groups. "We are letting them know that the law is unambiguous -- water quality and mountain trout come first."
The groups are calling on the Forest Service to permanently close the most environmentally damaging trails and to temporarily close the entire system during the wettest months. To read the groups' letter announcing their intent to sue and for other details on the case, click here.
(Photo by Barry Sulkin courtesy of SELC's Web site.)
Labels: environment, north carolina, regulatory oversight, Tennessee
10 Comments:
ORV trails in America are becoming extinct for this very reason. If the Forest Service has violated trail laws, they should be held accountable. But legal trails should remain open for ORV use.
It is regretable that considerable energy and resources will be wasted in defending and promoting this lawsuit. Those same efforts and money could have been used to actually improve the trails and the watersheds they effect.
The only one's benefiting will be the lawyers.
the mud hole pictured was repaired immediatly and was no where close tothe river. Theorv trails that are rutted are rutted from use not abuse and are logging trails that allready existed.if you want to save the fish quit fishing. Also i highly doubt the fish hatchery will have enough money to operate when the trails are closed or the locall buss cOntinue to operate.
since ohv users are outdoorsman as well why not working together to find a solution to the problem instead of making enemies on the same side. the forest service is taking measures to control run off as the off road community is cracking down on these illegal trails that you mentioned. we all need to work together or the eco nazi's, tree huggers and the animal rights activists will win and we will all be out of the outdoors.
I think the number of fishermen should be reduced because the park half way on the road and park in illegal pull offs. they walk down the middle of the road and have caused numerous accidents! And to think that they catch those poor fish that cant live in a little muddy water and they eat them. I think its all a bunch of bull and the tree huggers and their lawers and all the other UNAMERICAN sissies are just trying to cut out what someone else likes doing unless your "GREEN" and hike or ride a bike. And i have yet to see a fisherman up where any of the ohv's are riding.
This is not a one sided issue. ITs a give and take. If there are trails that could be closed that would present a real benefit to the natural wildlife...99.9% of ORV Park users would agree to close it. An all out closure of the park is a knee jerk reaction to a problem, without any attempts to try and resolve the issue for the best of both parties. Its sad that you they showed all their cards on the table and that they are unwilling for compromise from the start. Its easy to sue these days...but its hard to come to a table and be open to compromise. But hey...tommorow is July 4th and the NC Wildlife Commision is waiving all fees for public fishing for that day, should you be mad at them for making it open season for all on the game you love the most?
Every where that you go to ride there is always looking for a reason to shut down the 4 wd comunity.Not only does it not give us anywhere to ride but like a tellico there is business that make there money off of the 4 wheelers.Every body picks on us why not work with us to correct the problems.
I'm a little confused as well. The fish find it difficult to survive in muddy water and cant live long enough for fishermen to kill them and eat them? Is that really the argument here?
OHV use is already banned on half of the existing land. The photo of the mud hole is old it no longer exists and was the only one I have ever seen there. People do not go mudding there it is….rocks.
Government funds can be put to better use than defending a law suit. One of the main reasons the area is so pristine is that it requires an AWD vehicle to access it. Thus it remains untouched by the masses. It is my impression that there is a very good balance between preservation and land use at the present time. In Tellico I believe the damage to the environment was done by clear cut logging and the construction of the Cherohala Skyway. There are many examples of vehicles being blamed for damage to the environment and some make great photo ops. But the real damage to the environment is not people accessing and enjoying nature it is big business, development. What good does it do to protect the forests from tire prints if you are just going to replace them with septic tanks? Go ahead kick out the responsible off roaders and forest department exchange them for a development, then check the water quality, you'll wish you had us back. How was the water quality before the forestry department took over management of the area? Southern Four Wheel Drive has raised money and donated their time to improve the area, for ALL to enjoy our PUBLIC land. While others were just out fishin.
To blame the average OHV user or better yet the majority of OHV users for damage to the environment is just plain ignorant. The OHV community has done as much if not more to protect the environment as any "tree hugging" group in this country. Many OHV riders have worked with environmentalists before even laying out trails to make sure the impact on the environment is minimized and sustainable. One particular trail system has been delayed three years so effects on the forest could be studied, and the whole thing has been funded by an OHV group until now. Research the studies done and get the facts before taking an old picture and making things seem worse then they are. I bet the trout have a lot worse problems then OHV use, which happens on land not in streams. Maybe damming of the rivers, droughts, or over fishing should be at the top of your list. Take OHV use away and it won't be long before politicians have the forest clear cut to make up for the lost OHV revenue.
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