Resources

By Marie Dunkle In January 2013 when I first interviewed Ed Hunter for this newsletter, he was fairly new as the U. S. Forest Service (USFS) Chattooga River District Ranger, and I was still in learning mode as the Georgia ForestWatch (GAFW) Chattooga River District Leader. We sat near Stonewall Falls, and I learned that […]

ForestNews

Around the Forest – spring 2021

June 4, 2021

Around the Forest : By Jess Riddle, Executive Director National Lawsuits: Several environmental organizations brought suit against the Council of Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) new National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, which reduce government accountability and place new constraints on environmental reviews. The merits of that case were recently presented in court. Encouragingly, the Biden administration […]

ForestNews

The Foothills Landscape Project Evolves

June 4, 2021

By: Jess Riddle, Executive Director After a hiatus of more than a year, rounds of public meetings in April announced major changes to the Foothills Landscape Project. Spread across half the width of Georgia, the Foothills Landscape Project could result in intensive logging of mature forests, include herbicide application on a scale never before seen, […]

ForestNews

Hiking the Bartram Trail with ForestWatch

June 1, 2021

By Melanie Vickers : Board Secretary In January 2020, Georgia ForestWatch challenged our membership to hike the entire length (38 miles) of the Bartram Trail in Georgia by offering a series of hikes. In February 2020, we teamed up with the GA/NC Bartram Trail Society (now the Blueridge Bartram Trail Conservancy), and 23 hikers completed […]

ForestNews

Charlie’s Creek Road – OHV recreation destination causes sedimentation issues

June 1, 2021

By Melanie Vickers : Board Secretary Charlie’s Creek Road meanders through National Forest land in Towns County between Tallulah River Road and Upper Hightower Road, following Charlie’s Creek, a beautiful mountain stream that feeds into the Tallulah River, a popular trout fishing and camping destination. The road provides a path for power lines to Tate […]

ForestNews

Old-growth happenings

March 8, 2021

by Sue Harmon : Board Member Cliff Shaw continues to ramble across his section of the Blue Ridge Mountains in search of new big trees and old-growth areas on the forest. His recent discoveries have prompted him to revise and update his Rambling Through Old-Growth Past and Present: A Personal Survey of Surviving Old-Growth on […]

ForestNews

How long-gone homesteads led to the Clean Mountain Streams Campaign

March 8, 2021

By: David Govus Why should an environmentalist care about the condition of a road? Seeing the Flatlands Road is enough to make one care. This eroding nightmare at one time connected several old homesteads to the community of Suches. The Forest Service now owns this land, and the road serves only as an off-road playground […]

Avenza Mapping Basics

December 29, 2020

Avenza Mapping Basics: Collecting and sharing data GETTING A MAP Forest Service Topo maps. Click the area you wish to get a map from. Copy the link address for the “download PDF” option. Open Avenza App and import map using the URL map option. My maps > + icon > “Tap to enter a URL […]

Advocacy

FAQ: National Forests

December 4, 2020

Isn’t the National Forest already protected? Yes and No. The National Forest is managed under a multiple-use mandate that allows timber harvests, resource extraction, roadbuilding, and recreation, but does not allow private development such as homes or retail stores. While owned by the American public, it is nonetheless subject to being sold, leased, or traded, […]

ForestNews

Around the Forest: Fall 2020

October 6, 2020

By: Jess Riddle, Executive Director National Issues Forest management is being pushed back towards the bad old days of logging for the sake of logging. Over the last 30 years forest management has significantly improved as people saw the damage caused by forest exploitation and demanded greater ecological consideration. Some timber beasts are still around, […]