Wilderness: D

  • The Plan’s Wilderness Inventory identified 350,000 acres, but the Forest Service recommended protecting only 49,000 acres—less than 14%.
  • More 100,000 acres of Wilderness Inventoried Areas are placed in highest-priority logging designations.
  • The plan recommends the least possible amount of wilderness among all of its alternatives.
  • The plan removes one current Congressionally-approved Wilderness Study Area from recommendation.
  • The plan ignores 96% of public comments supporting more protected areas for the Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest.
  • The plan ignores the Nantahala Pisgah Forest Partnership compromise recommendation for more wilderness.

 

More Issues • Please Read

Protected Areas: F

The plan fails to protect over 101,000 acres of most important conservation and recreation hotspots. More than half of the most popular forest in the country is in highest priority logging designations.

Craggy National Scenic Area: D

The Forest Scenic Area designation for part of Craggy provides key support for the proposed Craggy National Scenic Area, and the final plan included an additional 700 acres. However, the plan places