This Land, Your Land

The federal government has agreed to pay $52 million to Swain County in lieu of building a road along the northern shore of Fontana Lake through Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., announced the deal today, ending a decades-old controversy. Swain County commissioners are expected to approve the agreement on Friday, according to The Charlotte Observer. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Gov. Bev Perdue will appear at a signing ceremony in Bryson City on Saturday.

When the government moved families off their land and flooded the land with the Fontana Lake hydroelectric project during World War II, it vowed to replace one of the roads covered by the reservoir's waters to re-establish access to family cemeteries. The government started then stopped construction of a road that would have gone through the wildest parts of Great Smoky Mountains National Park when environmentalists fought its completion.

The North Shore Road, which became known as the "Road to Nowhere," would have sliced through the unbroken mountains north of Fontana Lake in the national park and crossed the Appalachian Trail near Fontana Dam, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which has a map and a re-cap of the controversy at the link.

Though affected families continued to fight for the road, the county saw the benefit of a monetary settlement, and a government environmental analysis recommended taking the money.

"Four million dollars has already been authorized, and another $8.8 million will be paid after the agreement is signed, said Shuler, a Swain native," according to The Observer. "President Obama’s 2011 budget includes the first of 10 annual payments for the remainder."