This Land, Your Land

North Carolina's national forests are proposing new limits on geocaching and metal detectors on forest lands as a means to protect special areas and historical artifacts from damage.

Geocaches, hidden containers that game participants try to find by using GPS coordinates or other navigational techniques, would be prohibited in wildernesses, experimental forests (such as the Bent Creek Experimental Forest near Asheville) or Wild and Scenic River corridors.

The second rule would limit possession or use of metal detectors to approved areas, primarily swimming beaches like those at Lake Powhatan in the Pisgah National Forest, Jackrabbit Mountain in the Nantahala, Flanners Beach in the Croatan, and Kings Mountain Point in the Uwharrie. Forest visitors could still get permission to use metal detectors to find lost personal property in other areas.

“Many archaeological sites on the forest have been significantly damaged from treasure hunting, by those who loot sites to sell artifacts, and by others just unaware that it’s illegal to disturb and remove artifacts from federal land without a research permit. Existing laws protect historical sites like early farms and logging camps as well as Native American artifacts,” Mary Noel, the forest lands and planning staff officer, said in a news release.

Comments on the proposed rule changes can be mailed before March 15 to the National Forests in North Carolina, 160A Zillicoa Street, Asheville, 28801, or sent to comments-southern-north-carolina@fs.fed.us.

The National Forest Service has announced a shortened season at Roan Mountain Recreation Area this summer to allow for renovation work.

The recreation area, which is near Bakersville in the Pisgah National Forest, will be open only from June 6 through July 7, a news release says. It is normally open from May through September.

Renovations are to include replacing the dilapidated 1960s restroom near the Cloudland parking lot with an eight-unit accessible restroom, resurfacing the trails to the observation deck in the Rhododendron Garden and replacing the observation deck, and resurfacing the main paved road leading to the Cloudland parking lot.

Renovations are to be paid for with $700,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the Stimulus Bill).

The Appalachian Trail, which runs through the area, will not be affected by the closure. However, the access trail from the AT to the Cloudland parking lot will be closed.

The North Carolina Bartram Trail Society has developed a new map of the trail that it plans to distribute by the end of March, the society said last week.

The map of the Bartram National Recreational Trail will be the first to cover the entire length of the 118-mile trail, according to the organization. It will describe the primary features of the trail - water sources, campsites, vistas, road accesses, etc. - as well as driving directions to trailheads. Volunteers walked the length of the trail with high-precision GPS equipment and a distance measuring device (a "wheel").

The map "will also contain information on William Bartram, his contribution to the history of the area and his encounters with the native Cherokee, as well as interpretive information on the natural and cultural history of the region," the society says.

Eighty miles of the trail wind through the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina, running northwest from near Rabun Bald just south of Highlands and ending at Cheoah Bald. It joins the Appalachian Trail at two points, including at Wayah Bald. In Georgia, 38 miles of the trail run south-southeast from the state border to the Chattooga River and then head northeast paralleling the river to the Ga. 28 bridge.

"Underappreciated, the Bartram Trail covers much of the same (spectacular) terrain as the Appalachian Trail in Georgia and North Carolina, but offers a much more solitary experience," says the GORP site.

(We first saw info about the N.C. Bartram Trail Society's new map at Smoky Mountain News.)

The U.S. Forest Service said Monday it was withdrawing its decisions to allow boats on the upper Chattooga River, a National Wild and Scenic River, a news release from the Forest Service says.

"Effective immediately, the three national forests in South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina [Sumter, Chattahoochee and Nantahala, respectively] have withdrawn their decisions to allow for additional analysis,” said Liz Agpaoa, regional forester for the USDA Forest Service, Southern Region. “Once the analysis is complete, the forests intend to issue three new decisions, probably in early spring.”

In August, the Forest Service decided to allow kayakers on the river between December 1 and March 1 from Norton Mill Creek in North Carolina south to Burrells Ford Bridge in South Carolina, about a seven-mile stretch. Five parties, including Georgia Forest Watch, appealed the decision, and The Southern Region of the Forest Service granted the request for a stay on October 26.

During the appeal process, the Forest Service discovered some inconsistencies between various components of the decision documents, Paul Bradley, forest supervisor of the Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests, says in the release. While none of the appellants raised these inconsistencies in their appeals, the Forest Service decided to voluntarily withdraw the decisions.

The river is designated as the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River and is managed by the Forest Service. The service took two years to analyze uses of the river and received more than 3,000 comments during a 45-day public comment period before announcing its August decision, the Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail said in November.

Georgia Forest Watch summarizes the boating proposal recommended by the Forest Service as:

* Boating would be permitted annually in hard boats or inflatable kayaks between December 1 and March 1, when water levels “approximately” exceed 450 cubic feet per second at the Burrell’s Ford Bridge gauge.

* Boating permitted only between the confluence of the river with Norton Mill Creek and Burrell’s Ford Bridge, with put-ins only permitted at Norton Mill Creek and Bull Pen Bridge and take-out only at Bull Pen Bridge or Burrell’s Ford Bridge.

* Boater group sizes limited to six boaters per group, with a minimum of two craft per group.

* No commercial guided boating or shuttles would be permitted. No boating permitted on Upper Chattooga tributaries.

"Boating has been excluded from the Upper River and allowed in the Lower Corridor as the result of a compromise made more than three decades ago," Georgia Forest Watch says. "The effects of the different management approaches could not be more evident. The Upper Chattooga is a place of amazing natural beauty and solitude. The lower Chattooga shows the wear and tear of phenomenal popularity and, for anyone seeking natural solitude, feels more like an amusement park ride on busy Saturdays. Now boaters want to upset the compromise and force the whole river to be managed more like the Lower Corridor."

President Obama signed legislation last week that provides money to buy land in the Pisgah and Uhwarrie National Forests, according to the Wilderness Society.

"Because of this funding, there is finally public access to Catawba Falls," said Brent Martin, a conservationist in The Wilderness Society’s North Carolina office. "Western North Carolina hasn’t received land funding for almost 15 years, so it’s a pretty big deal for us."

Catawba Falls, a 340-foot cascade, a 70-foot upper falls and a third falls nearby, is in the Pisgah National Forest close to I-40 at Old Fort. The tourism it draws will help economic development in Old Fort and McDowell County, the Wilderness Society says. In addition to ensuring access to the falls, the purchase will protect the quality of the Catawba River's water and open it to trout fishing.

The House bill set aside about $713,000 in the 2010 Interior Department appropriation bill to buy 88 acres surrounding Catawba Falls, according to Mountain Express.

The Uwharrie tract to be bought includes King Mountain, the highest point in the Uhwarrie National Forest, which will provide a vital link in the historic Uwharrie National Recreational Trail.

Nonprofit organizations such as the Trust for Public Land and The Nature Conservancy will work with the federal government to acquire the land.

The US Forest Service said Wednesday that it is permanently closing the Nantahala National Forest's Upper Tellico OHV trail system in order to correct serious erosion problems in the Upper Tellico River watershed in Cherokee County.

"The 39-mile Upper Tellico OHV Trail System is currently contributing unacceptable levels of sediment into the Tellico River and its tributaries," National Forests in North Carolina Supervisor Marisue Hilliard said in a news release.

"The Forest Service is in violation of its own standards and North Carolina state water quality standards because visible sediment from the OHV trails is reaching the Tellico River and its tributaries in hundreds of locations. Many of the trails are on steep slopes and they all occur on very erodible soils. Much of the Tellico OHV trail system runs parallel to streams in the area, with over six miles within 100 feet of streams. The locations of these trails make it extremely difficult to prevent sediment from reaching the streams even if we are successful in repairing existing problems."

The Forest Service will continue to offer these OHV trail systems:
* Wayehutta, Nantahala NF (Roy A. Taylor Forest ATV Trail System), 21 miles (21 miles ATV and motorcycle).
* Brown Mountain, Pisgah NF, 34 miles (6 miles 4WD, 27 miles ATV, 34 miles motorcycle).
* Badin Lake, Uwharrie NF, 16 miles (16 miles 4WD, ATV and motorcycle).
* Black Swamp (see page 2), Croatan NF, 8 miles (8 miles 4WD, ATV and motorcycle).

Joanna Padgett-Atkisson details for Dirt Rag, the mountain bike forum, the seven-years-plus effort she led to construct nearly 15 miles of biking trails at the Jackrabbit Mountain day use area near Hayesville in the Nantahala National Forest.

"It began in early 2001, when I was approached by the administration of the Clay County School system (where I am employed as School Nurse) who knew of my love of cycling. They asked if I would be interested in helping to coordinate a mountain bike component for a newly formed after-school and summer program for middle school students, called Pathways. ...

"In late 2002 I began making inquiries to the Tennessee Valley Authority and the U.S. Forest Service, Tusquittee Ranger District, about gaining access to public lands for the purpose of building trails. It was readily evident that this project would take a collaborative effort between committed organizations that share common goals — promoting mountain biking not only for our community but for the whole region, to help promote environmental conservation and 'green' tourism."

And the result: "Its stacked-loop design helped meet the goal of creating a trail system that appeals to all skill levels. For starters, the all-access Central Loop is family-friendly with a perfect length of 3.1 miles. In contrast, the one-mile High Point trail has a 75-foot rock crossing, elevated ladder bridge, steep inclines and descents to create a challenge for advanced riders. Most trails are fast and furious, with bermed turns, dirt jumps and whoop-de-dos. Others, such as SABA Beach, are tight and twisty. Jackrabbit offers great lake views [of Lake Chatuge] while meandering through the woods alongside stately oaks and a multitude of flora and fauna."

A connector trial to Jackrabbit Mountain Campground is in the planning stages, Padgett-Atkisson says.

"As popular as the trails have been to mountain bikers, they are equally popular among those traveling by foot. Not only does the local hiking club (Mountain High Hikers) schedule routine hikes at Jackrabbit, but they are widely used for trail runs by individuals and school cross country teams. SABA [Southern Appalachian Bicycling Association] would like to continue to enhance trail access, promote environmental education and inspire conservation. Plants of interest have been identified and marked with the goal of creating signs containing this information."

The WNC Outdoors Info blog reports that a landslide has blocked Avery Creek Road (Forest Service Road 477) beyond the Pisgah horse stables, restricting access to trailheads for the Buckhorn Gap, Bennett Gap and Avery Creek trails.

"Right now it looks like it’s possible to hike or ride the closed portion of the road but this will likely change when/if the Forest Service starts doing work on it," Jordan Mitchell wrote Tuesday.

A fish kill counted in the tens of millions is located near Flanners Beach in the Croatan National Forest's Neuse River Recreation Area outside of New Bern, according to the News & Observer of Raleigh.

A series of fish kills have hit the Neuse River since mid-August, the newspaper says, and Lower Neuse Riverkeeper Larry Baldwin puts the number at 50 million in the last week.

A naturally occurring depletion of oxygen in the water is blamed for the kill. The N&O says it is the largest such loss in at least five years.

The National Forest Service is considering a fee increase at one of the most popular campgrounds in the Uwharrie National Forest.

Arrowhead Campground is a family campground (drinking water, flush toilets, showers, etc.) with 50 sites, including 33 with electricity. It is near Badin Lake, Cove Boat Launch and Kings Mountain Point. Reservations are strongly recommended in season.

To meet rising maintenance costs, the NFS proposes to raise fees at Arrowhead from $12 to $15 for non-electric sites in 2010, then to $18 in 2012. Electric sites will cost $20, up from $15, in 2010 and then $25 2012. Non-electric double sites go from $24 to $30 in 2010 and $36 in 2012. Double sites with electricity are $30 now and would rise to $40 in 2010 and $50 in 2012.

Comment on the proposal by October 23 at: Uwharrie National Forest, 789 N.C. 24/27 East, Troy, NC 27371, Attn: Theresa Savery or at