Watershed Update, Fall 2003

SECRET INTERNAL MEMO LEAKED FROM FOREST SERVICE

Stamped “NOT RELEASABLE,” briefing papers about major logging in the Southern Appalachians have been leaked from the Forest Service’s leadership team. The secret memo recommends that local District Rangers be given the power to designate national forest lands solely for producing “tree crops.” Areas for wildlife habitat, recreation, watershed health, and old growth trees would be excluded under this plan. This move would reverse years of planning and citizen involvement, and be a major change from the Southeast’s recently released draft national forest management plans. These plans were unveiled for public scrutiny and comment this past spring, and gave lip service—at least—to emphasizing values such as clean water, recreation opportunities, ecosystem health, wildlife areas, and old-growth forests. Managing for tree crops would nix this! Watch for the final, revised national forest plans that shall determine future management of public lands in the Chattooga River watershed; they’re due out in the spring of 2004.

STEKOA CREEK STILL STINKS!

Rabun County and the City of Dillard, Georgia have retained an engineering firm to perform a “watershed assessment” of eleven streams in the area. The majority of these streams empty into the Chattooga River, and so far the assessment has captured current data about water pollutants including fecal coliform, sedimentation, and phosphorus. Outstanding are the excessive fecal coliform readings for Stekoa Creek, a major tributary to the Chattooga River’s “section IV.” Stekoa continues to be a pox on the Chattooga’s water quality, consistently flowing into the Wild & Scenic River with muddy, smelly waters laced with fecal coliform.

Meanwhile, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has required the city of Clayton to conduct a comprehensive sewer system evaluation survey. The city would like to expand its current sewage treatment plant from 800,000 gallons to one million gallons per day. This sewage plant releases its effluent into the beleaguered Stekoa Creek. However, the EPD will not approve the expansion until the city patches up its leaking sewer system, which is also contributing to the high fecal coliform count in Stekoa Creek.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR HEMLOCK WOOLLY ADELGID SURVEY

The Chattooga Conservancy is updating our Geographic Information Systems (GIS) map of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) infestations in the Chattooga River watershed. This fall, we ask for volunteers to step forward! Help is needed to collect current data about HWA infestations, which are likely spreading south through the watershed. The GIS map will identify the best areas for releasing the beneficial Pseudoscymnus tsugae beetle. This predator beetle feeds exclusively on the adelgid, and large numbers of it will be raised at Clemson University for release in the spring. Please help us scour the forest for new HWA infestations.