2018 Accomplishments

2018 saw a strong focus in the Ocoee District of the Cherokee, including:

• The culmination of a successful four-year campaign to prevent logging along Tumbling Creek.

• Continued monitoring of past logging throughout the South Zone of the Cherokee. 

• More research on forest fire dynamics at the Smith Mountain Fire Exclusion Zone.

• Deep analysis of agency practices in our ongoing Freedom of Information Act research that covers the economics and ecological effects of the National Forest timber program.

We also continued our tradition of outreach to new forest activists, conducting multi-day forest defense workshops in three states (the Shawnee in Illinois, the Chattahoochee in Georgia, and the Allegheny in Pennsylvania.

We did presentations with Kentucky Heartwood and the Southern Environmental Law Center at the Appalachian Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (APIEL) at University of Tennessee Law School. 

Our work has expanded to Tennessee State Forests, as we begin monitoring the effects of logging at forests like Prentice Cooper and Bledsoe. 

And of course, great educational outings with naturalists Holly Richey and Jay Clark in the Cherokee and Pigeon Mountain.