SAMAB News
The SAA, finished in August, was SAMAB most ambitious undertaking to date, involving hundreds of employees in 14 state and federal agencies. It evaluates the health and potential of land, air, and water resources in seven Southern Appalachian states.
"Results of the assessment will be of inestimable value to natural resource managers in the states covered by the assessment," said Hubert Hinote, SAMAB's executive director. "Not only a that, but it will undoubtedly be used in other states as a model."
Five handsomely printed reports on the assessment are now in the hands of the public and the news media. Perhaps the most popular one for the general public will be the summary report, an 118-page document that presents in easy-to-understand language the far-reaching results of the assessment.
Four technical reports are also finished, covering forest health, air quality, social/cultural/economic history, and aquatic environments of the Southern Appalachians.
These will be especially useful to natural resource managers and technicians and to municipal planners. The baseline information in the reports will allow resource managers to make their decisions in a broader, ecosystem-wide context.
It will be of special value to managers of the five national forests in the SAMAB area which are about to begin revisions of their Forest Management Plans.
The public was involved throughout the assessment project. Numerous public meetings were held in various locations to get input.
Randy Phillips, Chair of the SAMAB Executive Committee, and Karen Wade, Vice-Chair, conducted briefings on the study for Congressional delegation from the seven states involved in the assessment and for the White House Office of Science and Technology.
The Southern Appalachian Assessment reports are available in hard copy by contacting the National Forests of North Carolina at (704) 257-4200. They also are available on the Internet from any of three web sites: http://www.lib.utk.edu/samab (SAMAB's Home Page); http://www.ffs.fed.us/ (the U.S. Forest Service's Home Page); and http://www.fs.libs.uga.edu (the Info South Home Page).
The call for papers has gone out for SAMAB's Seventh Annual Fall Conference November 6-8. Sessions will be held in the Holiday Inn in Gatlinburg.
The objective of this year's conference is to further spread information from the Southern Appalachian Assessment. The theme is "Working Together," emphasizing the need for SAMAB agencies to work harder to resolve economic, cultural, and natural resource issues in the region.
The conference will also recognize the 20th anniversary of the designation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory as Biosphere Reserve Units.
Those wishing to present papers at the conference should call the SAMAB office at (423) 436-1701. For hotel reservations contact the Holiday Inn at (423) 436-9201.
A delegation of land managers and scientists from the Czech Republic spent several weeks in the SAMAB area visiting with officials at Oak Ridge National Laboratories, Mount Mitchell State Park, Grandfather Mountain, TVA, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the U.S. Forest Service.
They came to learn about management practices from their American counterparts and to make presentations about their home areas. The delegation was led by Frantisek Pelc, Director of Protected Areas in the Czech Republic. His position is roughly equivalent to the Director of the National Park Service in the United States.
At the SAMAB Executive Committee July meeting in Oak Ridge, TN, Bob Kerr, President and CEO of the SAMAB Foundation, explained problems that continue to dog this important part of SAMAB.
SAMAB was set up to raise funds for and to play the role of advocate for SAMAB. However, Kerr explained, it has been very difficult to attract private funding for activities that are viewed as federal or state activities that should be supported by traditional appropriations.
Recently, Representatives Charles Taylor and Newt Gingrich agreed to propose a $1.5. million direct federal appropriations to SAMAB, but Kerr noted that competition for appropriations is keener than ever "so that may be a long shot."
The SAMAB Cooperative and the Foundation are thus stuck with a "chicken-or-egg" situation: on the one hand, it isn't easy to raise money for an organization (the Foundation) which has not yet developed recognition for accomplishing major tasks without reliable funding.
SAMAB Vice-Chair Karen Wade, Superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, called for SAMAB's member agencies to help the Foundation "get off the dime." "Otherwise," she said, SAMAB may need to change its vision."
The Executive Committee resolved to identify obstacles to funding and to redefine SAMAB's expectations for the Foundation.
The SAMAB Executive Committee received an update on activities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains Initiative (SAMI) at it's July 17 meeting in Oak Ridge, TN.
SAMI Executive Director Bob Kerr and Coordinator Leslie Cox gave the progress report. Cox described SAMI's progress towards an assessment of air pollution sources, how pollution is transported, and what effects this has on air quality.
SAMI is a cooperative agency formed in 1992 to develop a regional strategy for improving regional air quality. It is made up of regulatory agencies, industry, educational institutions, and other stakeholders from eight states.
It's study of air quality is to cost an estimated $3 million, with the money coming from several sources. All the funding has not been nailed down, however.
The schedule for completing and implementing the SAMI assessment is as follows:
(1) finish the Integrated Assessment framework by 1997; (2) run the most promising models for emissions management and publish results in 1997; (3) develop emissions control and reduction recommendations and publish these for the states and the public in 1998; (4) design outreach materials to publicize SAMI's recommendations on a continuing basis from 1996 to 1998; and (5) provide implementation support to the states from 1998 to 2000.
Kerr acknowledged that there has been some frustration with SAMI's rate of progress. He pointed out that participation by all parties in SAMI is voluntary and some of the control options being developed will likely be quite expensive to implement.
Nevertheless, there has been progress.
Executive Committee Chair Randy Phillip emphasized that the SAMI initiative already has borne fruit. "The progress we have seen is that the states have begun getting new air quality permitting applications to land management agencies earlier in the process. So communication, at least, has been improved."
"Any progress is better than none," he added.
Sustainable Development
Phill Gibson reported for Chair John Peine of the National Biological Service. The committee, he said, expects a $5,000 grant from the State of Tennessee to compile and publish a catalogue that lets communities and individuals know how SAMAB can help them develop sustainable management practices.
This could make SAMAB a sort of clearing-house for sustainable development information, possibly bringing other agencies together to work towards sustainable development.
Peine has prepared a brochure and related materials for communities that can make Southern Appalachian Assessment data more "user friendly" and applicable to local needs.
Research and Monitoring
Karl Hermann of the National Biological Service will become co-chair of this committee, serving with TVA's Dr. Betsy Smith, chair. The committee plans to use the Southern Appalachian Assessment to identify needs for new approaches for monitoring and inventorying, and then develop an action plan to fill data gaps.
Environmental Education and Training
Gene Cox of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, who chairs the committee, said his group has completed design of six new environmental education posters. They focus on endangered species, exotic species, aquatic species, cave/karst resources, neotropical migratory birds, and riverine habitat. About $3,000 will be needed to fund printing of the posters, he said.
The committee also plans to sift through the Southern Appalachian Assessment data for anything that would lend itself to educational programs.
Resource Management
Chair Larry Luckett of the USFS reported that his group is revising the boundaries of the SAMAB zone of cooperation so they will be consistent with international criteria recently adopted by the U.S. Man and Biosphere program. As a result, it is possible that 11 counties in West Virginia may be added to the zone. Luckett's committee is studying the ecological classification of the counties to see if they meet the criteria.
Luckett also reported on the status of three new potential Biosphere Reserve Units. SAMAB has approved the Tennessee River Gorge and awaits action by the U.S. MAB and UNESCO, which must approve. Roane Mountain State Park's nomination is meeting some resistance in Congress, Luckett said. Nomination papers for Mt. Rogers, in southwestern Virginia, are still being prepared.
Luckett recommended that the committee no longer be involved in preparing nominations for new units but should limit itself to reviewing proposed additions to existing reserve units.
On my last report, the headline said: "A Sustainable Future, an Exciting Future." The article beneath the headline said we can achieve a sustainable future if we build on our commitment of cooperation, coordination, and integration.
Such commitment is essential. And some are giving it all they have. For example, federal agencies, especially the U.S. Forest Service, and the Cooperative's state members were strongly supportive of the Southern Appalachian Assessment.
But there is one outstanding area in which commitment has flagged, and that is support for the SAMAB Foundation. (See the related article titled "Funding Problems Continue to Plague The SAMAB Foundation"). The Foundation is struggling to "be all it can be," and we are very sympathetic to the Foundation's President and CEO, Bob Kerr.
With SAMAB's previous accomplishment to build on, surely we can build further and support the Foundation. I encourage every member of SAMAB to give serious thought to this and give Bob any ideas you have to help him in this dilemma.
On other matters:
You read elsewhere in this newsletter of the visit to our region by leaders of the Czech Republic. We also had visitors from South Africa. This again points out the fact that SAMAB is a recognized model -- we are being closely watched. We must live up to the expectations of those who are watching us.
The NEPA workshop SAMAB sponsored last May was well attended and has resulted in a proposal for SAMAB to organize another committee -- the NEPA Coordinators Committee.
I spoke at the Smithsonian Institution's Second Environmental Conference which focused on the issue of public lands, their purpose and effectiveness.
The next Executive Committee meeting is scheduled September 18 in Franklin, North Carolina. On September 17 there will be a meeting with the Land Trusts of North Carolina.
The Annual Fall Conference will be November 6-8, and a bio-control workshop will be held September 26-27 at the North Carolina Arboretum (see related article "Wanted! Information on Killer Bugs").
Yes indeed, we have "an exciting, sustainable future before us."
The National Biological Service (NBS), with SAMAB's assistance, is looking for advice on how to control insect pests in southeastern forests biologically -- that is, without chemicals.
To that end, a workshop will be held September 26-27 at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville from grants received by NBS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Biological Control Institute. It will be a cooperative affair, with the University of Tennessee and The Nature Conservancy as principal partners and other participants to assist in the goals of the workshop.
The workshop will bring together bio-control experts and resource managers to address the possibility of implementing a broad-scale biological attack on priority pests of Southern Appalachia.
Dr. Charles Parker of the NBS, stationed in Gatlinburg, is setting up a working group to facilitate the fight against the main insect pests of the region. He said that one objective is to reduce duplication of effort in the field of bio-control.
Dr. Parker is asking land managers from the state and federal agencies and the private sector -- especially those who are knowledgeable of the pest problems in their forests -- to participate in the workshop.
The workshop will develop priorities for controlling insect pests based on two things -- their potential impacts and their susceptibility to biological controls. There will be a $35 registration fee for the workshop.
For further information, contact Dr. Parker at (423) 436-1704 or Phill Gibson at the SAMAB office, (423) 436-1701 or 7496.
North Carolina's "Year of the Mountains" is nearing its end, and its sponsors hope the result will be quality growth for the western region of the state.
In a report to Governor James N. Hunt Jr., Hugh Morton, Chairman of the Year of the Mountains Commission, said, "We want the beauty, charm, and advantages of the mountains protected and improved, and everything that we have advocated has been crafted with that in mind."
There was extensive public participation in the whole process.
In addition to the printed commission report, a videotape was prepared for showing on public television, in schools, and to clubs and other groups.
"This," Morton said, "will enable the commission to thank...our sources of financial report. It will also provide wide exposure for the recommendations" made by the commission.
The Year of the Mountains Commission was established to assess the critical issues facing western North Carolina communities and to promote quality growth in the region. It also sought to develop and publicize policy goals for addressing the issues of quality growth and development, natural resource protection, and preservation of the cultural identity of the mountain region of the state.
Through it all, a major objective was to open the way for local governments and citizens to achieve sustainable and healthy communities with viable employment opportunities.
The SAMAB Executive Committee will meet September 17-18 at the County Recreation Department in Franklin, North Carolina. The session starts September 17 at 1 p.m. and is to end September 18 at 3 p.m.
A bloc of rooms has been reserved at the Franklin Motel in downtown Franklin for the night of September 17. Rates are $34.20 plus tax or $38.00 plus tax for the newer part of the motel.
Call and make your reservations right away.
The session on September 17 will focus on how to gain cooperation to achieve better public/private land protection. It also will seek to determine the extent of and necessity for protecting public land assets.
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