Update: 12.15.08
SELC is calling for the George Washington National Forest to drop a logging plan that imperils an irreplaceable resource: old-growth forest, with some trees more than 200 years old. The proposed Marshall Run timber sale targets 187 acres in the mountains west of the Shenandoah Valley in Rockingham County. SELC commissioned an independent survey of the area, which found that rare stands of old growth occupy nearly 30 percent of the logging sites.
A Special Place at Risk
According to SELC forest experts Sarah Francisco and David Carr, there's even more at stake. Marshall Run is part of a 17,000-acre, largely undisturbed tract known as Beech Lick Knob. The Forest Service recently acknowledged that Beech Lick Knob meets the criteria for a roadless area, but the agency still hasn't cancelled the project. Our concern is that logging and access-road construction could jeopardize Beech Lick Knob's status as a roadless area, which should be protected from road building and large-scale commercial timbering. Long-Term Solutions
As the George Washington National Forest revises its long-range management plan, SELC is advocating long-term protection of old growth, roadless areas, and other precious resources.
The Sierra Club, Forest Watch, Appalachian Voices, and other concerned groups visit sites where the National Forest Service sets sales and cutting of our national forests. We record the old growth, view the rugged vistas, and document the streams in their pristine and biologically healthy state. We also note where the forests are stressed with acid rain, drought, fire, and insect infestations. Often a biological scientist will accompany the group to advise what we are seeing.
Usually, half the trip is the unspoiled, and the second half is viewing a previously cut site to determine if there is sufficient grouse habitat as they expected, or if there is slash and potential for floods, runoff, and sediment downstream.
Click on the links below to access the pdf brochure for the fall tours, and the Sierra Club and Forest Watch position papers:
Endangered Forests Hot Spot: George Washington-Jefferson
Forests for the Future:
A CITIZENS’ VISION FOR THE GEORGE
WASHINGTON NATIONAL FOREST
Tour de Cut 2009 Brochure