This Land, Your Land

Several trails in the Joyce Kilmer National Recreation Trail corridor will be closed for the first half of November as numerous dead and dying hemlock trees are removed from the area, the Forest Service said in a news release today.

All or a portion of the Joyce Kilmer National Recreation Trail, Stratton Bald Trail, Naked Ground Trail and Jenkins Meadow Trail will be closed November 1 to 14 for the work.

The Joyce Kilmer National Recreation Trail is a 2-mile figure-8 loop at the heart of the old-growth Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, which sees more than 35,000 visitors a year.

"Although located within the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness Area, the trail is managed as a highly developed trail," the release says. "The Nantahala Forest Plan directs managers to 'Fell all dead or dying trees within the trail corridor' on this type of trail to ensure visitor safety. The Forest Service explored the possibility of closing the area until the trees naturally fell, but has chosen to remove the hazardous trees in order to keep the area open to the public."

Because of a catastrophic infestation of the exotic insect pest, hemlock woolly adelgid, approximately 150 large hemlock trees are dead or dying in the Joyce Kilmer area, which is near Robbinsville.

Click on the photo or the link above to see additional photos from Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest.