Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 7

Mountain report

Smokies: 900 More
Stream Miles
A three-year survey reveals that
the national park has nearly a
third more miles of flowing
water than thought.
by Cathryn McCue

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Around the region

Around the region

north CArolinA

north CArolinA

West VirginiA

A three-year survey has
determined there are
almost one third more
miles of streams in the
Great Smoky Mountains
National Park than originally believed. The
park's mapping specialists partnered with scientists from Tennessee,
North Carolina and the
U.S. Geological Survey,
and using aircraft scanners and Global
Positioning Systems
found 2,900 stream
miles, compared with
2,000 previously inventoried. Of those, 1,073
stream miles are large
enough to support fish.
The data helps the park
to better manage water
quality and aquatic ecosystem health.
nationalmap.gov

The Foothills Land
Conservancy had a banner year in 2014, with
almost 12,000 acres protected under 13 conservation easements in four
Blue Ridge states. The
largest tract, 2,620 acres,
in South Carolina, borders the Broad River and
harbors a range of wildlife habitats. In
Tennessee, the conservancy helped protect the
1,502-acre Hartsaw Cove
in Overton County, a
farm older than the
state, and six contiguous
tracts totaling 4,485
acres in Marion County
that provide sweeping
views of Sequatchie
Valley and will now be
protected from development and strip mining.
foothillsland.org

The U.S. Forest Service,
responding to a swell of
controversy over its
initial outline for
managing the PisgahNantahala National
Forests, is pausing its
planning process to get
more public input. The
agency had flagged
700,000 acres of the
1.1-million-acre forest to
be available for logging,
drawing sharp criticism
from conservation
groups. Officials say that
when areas too rocky or
wet, or for other reasons,
are excluded, the
logging acreage would
be less than half that.
Over the last decade,
about 1,000 acres have
been logged annually
from the two forests.
fs.usda.gov/nfsnc

In seven years, North
Carolina has gone
from zero large-scale
solar energy facilities
to 150, leading the
Southeast and ranking
fourth nationally in
the clean energy
source, according to a
February report from
Duke University.
Another 377 facilities
are planned. The solar
industry now com prises more than 450
companies in the state,
supports 4,300 jobs,
and represents a $2
billion investment. In
addition to jobs, solar
businesses provide
income for landowners
and tax revenue for
localities, the report
notes.
cggc.duke.edu

A year after the chemical spill in the Elk River
left some 300,000 West
Virginians without safe
tap water, several former officials with
Freedom Industries,
which owned the leaking storage tanks, have
been charged under the
Clean Water Act. Six
people face felony and/
or misdemeanor pollution charges. Also, some
3,800 people have filed
claims totaling $200
million against the
company, which filed
for bankruptcy soon
after the spill, according
to the Charleston
Gazette, which reported
that the insurance and
assets of the company
amount to a fraction of
those claims.
May/June 2015 7
http://www.nationalmap.gov http://www.foothillsland.org http://www.fs.usda.gov/nfsnc http://cggc.duke.edu
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015

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