Environment and the Park
Tennessee is the most biodiverse inland
state in the United States and the South Cumberland is one of the most
biodiverse regions in Tennessee. The South Cumberland State
Recreation Area is truly the wilderness heart of the southern plateau, a
refuge for flora and fauna including over 700 acres of native old growth
mesophytic hardwood forest in Savage Gulf, incredible diversity in the
Fiery Gizzard Gulf and Hawkins Cove where 262 acres have been set aside
as a natural area since 1985 to preserve the rare Cumberland Rosin Weed.
Everything in nature is connected.
Climate change, unplanned development, watershed use and abuse, pine
monoculture conversion of native hardwood forest, clear cutting and poor
logging practices, air and water pollution all have an effect on the
wilderness qualities of the park and the biodiversity of our region.
Wilderness has no voice of its own.
It is up to each of us to speak and act for what we want the world to be
and to become. The need for wilderness has been eloquently
expressed by Wendell Berry from Kentucky:
The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me
And I wake in the night at the least sound
In fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water,
and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
Who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.
For a time I rest in the grace if the world, and am free.
Headlines on this
page:
(click on the headline to jump down the page)
USDA
Forestry Researcher Finds 200+ Year Old Trees at Savage Gulf
New
Sewanee Study Tracks Forest Changes
Friends of South Cumberland Work to Preserve South Cumberland Wilderness
SCCA and SERP to Sponsor Panel Discussion on “Drought Consequences and
Other Water Issues”
The
South Cumberland Community Association (SCCA) and Students for an
Environmentally Responsible Plateau (SERP) will cosponsor a panel
discussion on “Drought Consequences and Other Water Issues” on
February 7th,
2008 at 7:30 PM in Gailor Hall on the University of the South
campus.
Local
panel participants will be Ben Beavers, Sewanee Utility District Manager
and Jim Boynton, newly appointed director of Public Works in Monteagle.
Dr.
Dick Urban and Mr. Gary Burris will represent Tennessee Department of
Environment and Conservation (TDEC). Dr. Urban is from the TDEC
Chattanooga field office and is an expert on waste water management. Mr.
Burris is Field Office Manager from the Division of Water Supply.
Professor Jon Evans of the Biology Department at Sewanee will moderate
this informative discussion. There will an opportunity for the audience
to submit questions to the panelists. The public is cordially invited to
attend.
USDA
Forestry Researcher Finds 200+ Year Old Trees at Savage
by Ron Castle, December 19,
2007
Research Forester
Stacy Clark recently discovered several white oak and shortleaf pine
trees which appear to be 200+ years old. Core samples were taken
from several trees and the exact age will be determined by microscopic
examination of the core samples.
These trees were
found on top of the Plateau in the vicinity of the North Rim and North
Plateau Trails intersection.
Clark stated in an
email to Ranger George Shinn yesterday, "We all agree there is enough
potential old-growth and fire scars in the area to continue with the
study. This is extremely unique for forests located on top of the
Plateau where logging would have been accessible. We don't know of any
other area like this in the Plateau region."
The study is being
conducted in conjunction with the University of the South and the USDA
Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Upland Hardwood Ecology and
Management in Normal, Alabama.
This is another
affirmation about how special the South Cumberland Recreation Area
really is.
New
Sewanee Study Tracks Forest Changes
from The Herald-Chronicle,
Winchester, Tennessee - March 29, 2002
Nearly 15 percent of the intact native
forest on Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau has disappeared since 1981,
according to a new report by the University of the South's Landscape
Analysis Laboratory.
The Sewanee study examined a
seven-county, 620,000-acre portion of the Cumberland Plateau in Southern
Tennessee. The primary purpose of the study was to examine changes
in land cover and land use over time and the environmental effects
associated with those changes.
The University of the South team used
aerial photography, satellite images and on-the-ground assessment to
measure changes in forest cover over the 20 year period examined in the
study.
Jon Evans, director of the
Landscape Analysis Lab at the University of the South and lead
investigator for the project presented the findings to Tennessee
legislators in Nashville on March 13. Native forests on the
Cumberland Plateau consist predominately of a mixture of oak and hickory
species, along with other hardwood species. The Sewanee study
found that 66,000 acres (editor's
note: an area almost 4 times as large as all park properties combined)
of native forest has been lost since 1981
and that most (74%) of this loss was caused by conversion of native
forests to plantations consisting of non-native loblolly pine.
The rate of conversion from native forest
to pine plantation has doubled during the last three years of the study
period (1997-2000). Pine conversion was highly clustered, causing
concentration of impact in certain counties and watersheds. All
counties showed a net loss of native forest, with Van Buren County being
the highest at 18% (15,870 acres).
The Sewanee study was funded, in part, by
the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service as a Small Area Forestry Demonstration Project.
Lead researcher Jon Evans said, "By
developing cost-effective methodologies that produce reliable,
inexpensive data concerning land use change, our research should help
Cumberland Plateau stakeholders understand the rate and extent of forest
change on the Plateau and the likely biological effects of this change.
This information should become important pieces of the local land use
decision making process. In addition, technologies developed for
this project could easily be used to track certain indicators of
sustainable forest operations."
The complete report is available on line
at
http://lal.sewanee.edu.
Friends of South Cumberland
Work to Preserve South Cumberland Wilderness
by Ron Castle, Web Master -
June 25, 2001
The Place
The Cumberland Plateau
is often called Tennessee’s secret mountain range. The Great Smoky
Mountains are known around the world. The Plateau, by comparison,
has been a quiet and peaceful place unknown to most outsiders and even
to many in our own state.
The largest remaining
forested plateau in the United States, the Cumberland stretches from
western Virginia through Kentucky, across Tennessee and the northwest
corner of Georgia into Alabama. Because of its irregular
geological features, its remoteness, and its historically small
population, much of the Plateau appears to remain in a natural state.
It is covered with forests, dotted with waterfalls, and spanned by stone
arches. Its rivers and streams have carved great canyons. It
is a place of great natural resources: hardwood timber, coal,
hydro electricity and a cleansing source for water and air for our great
cities. It has been the new home of many visionary communities
that once sought new beginnings. And, it is the habitat and refuge
of wildlife, flora and fauna including many rare and endangered species.
The heart of the South
Cumberland, 80 miles southeast of Nashville and 50 miles northwest of
Chattanooga, is the South Cumberland State Recreation Area –
Tennessee’s largest state wilderness park. Totaling over 18,000
acres, the South Cumberland is comprised of 10 distinct properties
scattered over 100 square miles in Franklin, Marion, Grundy and
Sequatchie counties, but is managed as a single park. The names of
the properties reflect the settlers, history and natural features of the
area: Carter State Natural Area, Collin’s Gulf, Fiery Gizzard Trail,
Foster Falls, Greeter Falls, Grundy Forest, Grundy Lakes, Hawkins Cove,
Savage Gulf, Sewanee Natural Bridge.
South Cumberland is a
valuable recreational resource for naturalists, hikers, backpackers,
rock climbers, birders, wildflower fanciers and wildlife watchers. Over
a million visitors enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells of nature in
the Park during 2000. Trails lead to dozens of waterfalls fed by
quiet free-flowing streams, steep canyons known locally as gulfs that
descend a thousand feet, sheer bluffs as tall as five-hundred feet that
provide panoramic views, and a cave that has the largest opening in the
state. This is a place of solitude that soothes the modern soul
and allows a rare wilderness experience and time to slow down to reflect
on what our world was like hundreds of years ago.
But the Park is more
than just a recreational resource. It is the conservation hub for
a larger eco-region that supports the most diverse mesophytic hardwood
forest in North America. Critical core areas provide refuge for
rare and endangered plants like the Cumberland Rosin Weed. Savage
Gulf is home to one of the last remaining stands of virgin hardwood
forest in the East - giant oaks, poplars, hemlocks and hickories; many
believed to have sprouted before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.
The Park is a refuge for the biodiversity that once reigned across the
entire South Cumberland. It is the summer home and fledging ground
for declining populations of neotropical birds – warblers, thrushes,
vireos and buntings. It is a place of cleansing for air and a
major contributor to retaining rainfall and feeding aquifers. It
is a carbon reserve for climate change. We cannot live without the
services that nature provides. We cannot create these services ourselves
and cannot replace them if they are gone. South Cumberland is
truly one of the last great places.
Of all the things that
define us as human beings, there are two that stand above all the rest:
love and place. And, when you can combine love and place, life
takes on a new dimension: a place called home. Home is not
just where we live, but where we raise our family, where we earn or
living, where we grow our food, where nature’s services make life
sustainable and enjoyable, a place where we can renew our vision and our
spirits. This great place has been preserved for all of us.
We hope you will come to think of South Cumberland as part of your home.
The Threat
South Cumberland faces
a challenging future if it is to remain a true wilderness park and
ecological refuge.
During the 30 years
since South Cumberland first became a park, the Cumberland Plateau has
experienced unprecedented changes and the rate of change is increasing
dramatically. Hundreds of thousands of acres of hardwoods have
been clear-cut and converted to pine monoculture. Pine monoculture
borders park properties in many places. Expert ecologists estimate the
result to be a 70 percent decline in biodiversity. Demographic
shifts, affluence and a desire to be free from the stress and strain of
city life are bringing almost ready to retire baby boomers from as far
away as Florida, California, Minnesota and New Jersey to the peace,
solitude, beauty and affordability of our not so secret mountains.
Bluff land that sold for $100 an acre when the park was founded in 1973
is now selling for as much as $50,000 an acre. Development
opportunities abound with more than two-dozen subdivisions on the market
in Franklin, Marion and Grundy counties. Mountain land and homes
that are priced at historic highs are bargains to folks from Miami, Los
Angeles, Minneapolis and Newark.
The problem facing
South Cumberland is that the Park Master Plan has never been completed.
What appears to the hiker’s eye as an endless wilderness is actually
state property surrounded by privately owned land, much of it bluff
property overlooking Savage, Collin’s and Fiery Gizzard Gulfs.
Most of the Fiery Gizzard Trail is on private land and the use of the
trail is at the discretion of the landowners. There are no
easements or rights-of-way. The Master Plan has called for many
years for the purchase of additional land to create defensible
boundaries that protect the wilderness experience of the park.
State Parks have not been a priority in a state system that lacks
consistent policy, long-term leadership and faces reduced budgets.
The window of
opportunity for large-scale preservation is closing. Unless we act
now, it will be closed forever. A wilderness park without
wilderness is just another park. Once it is gone we will never be
able to go back. There is no such thing as almost wilderness.
The Opportunity
Since our founding in
1993, the Friends of South Cumberland State Recreation Area, Inc. has
been a catalyst for doing things for South Cumberland that the state
cannot or will not do. We have honed our skills for land
acquisition and with the help of our neighbors, our members,
conservation organizations and foundations we have purchased or acquired
through donation five properties, all donated to the state to become
part of the park. We have also helped the state purchase several other
properties including the 500-acre Prince Tract at Foster Falls. We
have made progress but our future is limited by funds on hand and the
rapid rate of development.
We have property under
option and the plan is in place to achieve defensible boundaries for
South Cumberland either through direct purchase or conservation
easements. We have conservation and land trust partners who have
helped us in the past and are ready to do so today and in the future.
Our opportunity is now.
The Action
The Friends of South
Cumberland since our inception in 1993 has been working to raise funds
to complete the Park Master Plan for the South Cumberland State
Recreation Area. Our goal is to leverage our efforts with
foundation, corporate, conservation and state funds. Part of the
funds will be reserved in an endowment to manage conservation easements
in perpetuity.
Our goal is to complete
the Park Master Plan to the greatest extent possible. Purchased
properties have been and will be donated to the state to become part of
the park. Conservation easements will be managed by one or more
land trust organizations. The South Cumberland State Recreation
Area will remain a wilderness park and biodiversity preserve forever.
The Gift
If we act now we will
bestow on present and future generations a true wilderness park, a rare
and irreplaceable place that we can all call home. We will
preserve and protect the heart of a unique ecoregion and maintain the
base of biodiversity on a planet where biodiversity is declining
everywhere. We will have a place where we can restore our souls
and study and contemplate the need for all of us to learn to live as
creative rather than destructive citizens of the natural world. We
will have a place of enjoyment, celebration and recreation.
This is why your
membership and participation is so important.
John Muir once wrote,
“As long as I live, I’ll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing.
I’ll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm and
avalanche. I’ll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild
gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can.”
This is the gift we
both give and receive.
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