ISSUE: Effects of increased industrial forestry on water quality, forest diversity, and recreation
GOAL: Moratorium on new chip mills until environmental and economic impacts are better understood
Current Status: Over 150 high-capacity chip mills are currently operating throughout the Southeastern United States consuming over 1.2 million acres of trees per year. Twenty-one mills of this type are located in the Southern Appalachian region, annually consuming approximately 170,000 acres of trees (about 1/3 the area of the entire Great Smoky Mountain National Park) from our forests. These trees are harvested, generally, by use of clear cuts, and the forest land which is being clear cut (hardwood, softwood and mixed forest) is converted into ‘mono-culture‘ pine plantations. The problems that stem from these industrial forestry methods are many. The quality of our Southern Appalachian rivers is threatened due to both the increased runoff of silt and sediment from clear cuts, and pesticides and herbicides from the pine plantations.
Appalachian forests are also becoming less biologically diverse as natural habitat is lost to pine plantations. Despite growing concerns coming from religious groups, recreation companies, federal agencies (the US Forest Service Chief Dombeck, recently spoke out on the subject) and a few state agencies, chip mills and the industrial forestry that feeds them continues to expand throughout the Southern Appalachian region with little or no regulation.
Precedent: The forests of the Southeastern United States provide exceptional recreational opportunities. The proliferation of chip mills in the Southeastern United States may adversely impact recreational benefits provided by a healthy forest ecosystem. A moratorium on all new chip mill construction and expansion is needed until a comprehensive Southeastern regional study of the environmental, socio-economic and recreational impacts is undertaken and a unified federal policy on industrial forestry is developed, based on scientific evidence.