A meeting to discuss a possible wilderness designation for a 2,380-acre section of Pisgah National Forest near Craggy Gardens will be held at 7 pm on Monday, Sept. 13 at the Big Ivy Community Center. Forest Service representatives and others have been invited to come and answer questions and hear comments.
Craggy Mountain Wilderness Study Area Fact Sheet
Area Description:
Craggy Mountain WSA is 2,380 acres below the Craggy Mountain Visitors Center (bounded by the Blue Ridge Parkway on the south, Bullhead Ridge on the east, Forest Service Road 63 on the west, and national forest boundary to the north). Outstanding features are the waterfalls and cascades on Waterfall Creek and the old growth / virgin trees found throughout this drainage, Douglas Fall is the most prominent waterfall, with a vertical drop of 65 feet. The most outstanding example of the virgin timber is the pure hemlock stand on Sprucepine Ridge and the eastern side of Waterfall Creek.
Legislative History:
The nationwide Roadless Area Review in 1979 recommended the Craggy Mountain Area for further planning. The 1984 North Carolina Wilderness Act designated Craggy Mountain as a Wilderness Study Area. In 1987, as part of its overall Forest Land Management Plan Pisgah Nat. Forest, the USFS recommended that Craggy Mountain be designated Wilderness. Bills proposing the creation of a Craggy Mountain Wilderness were drafted by then Congressmen Jamie Clark in 1990 and then by Charles Taylor in 1991k, but neither bill made it out of Committee.
Management Situation:
As a Wilderness Study Area since 1984, no timber harvest activities are allowed. If designated Wilderness, several miles of illegal OHV trails created by private land to the north will need to be closed and restored. Continued mechanical and chemical treatment of invasive species resulting from recent fires should be considered. Ongoing treatment of Carolina/Eastern Hemlock stands for hemlock woolly adelgid control should be permitted to continue.
No comments:
Post a Comment