Prepared by Federal and State Agencies
Coordinated through Southern Appalachian
Man and the Biosphere Cooperative
July 1996
Report
1 of 5
Our vision for the Southern Appalachian region is an environment for natural resources management that applies the best available knowledge about the land, air, water, and people of the region. Applied on public lands, this knowledge would provide a sustainable balance among biological diversity, economic uses, and cultural values. All would be achieved through information gathering and sharing, integrated assessments, and demonstration projects.
The Southern Appalachian Assessment takes a major step toward fulfillment of that vision. It is an ecological assessment - a description of conditions that goes beyond state, federal, or private boundaries. In using Southern Appalachian Assessment data, land managers can base their decisions on the natural boundaries of ecosystems rather than on the artificial boundaries of counties, states, or national forests and parks.
The assessment was accomplished through the cooperation of federal and state natural resource agencies within the Southern Appalachian region. It was coordinated through the auspices of the Southern Appalachian Man and Biosphere (SAMAB) cooperative. Members of the cooperative are: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; Tennessee Valley Authority; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, National Park Service, National Biological Service, Fish and Wildlife Service; Appalachian Regional Commission; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Georgia Department of Natural Resources; North Carolina Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources; Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation; U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration; and the U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This cooperation significantly expanded the scope and depth of analysis that might have been achieved by separate initiatives. It also avoided duplicating work that might have been necessary if each agency had acted independently. The findings in this assessment do not reflect unanimous (unqualified) views of all agencies involved on all points.
Although the Southern Appalachian Assessment is broad and comprehensive in subject matter and geographic scope, there are many opportunities to further expand the analyses based on this data.
Urgent demands for the assessment data restricted our time-frame. So identifying data gaps became as important a task as identifying and gathering existing data. The Southern Appalachian Assessment serves as both a useful reference and as a benchmark for future analyses.
There was no specific statutory requirement for the assessment. However, national forest land and resource management plans authorized under the 1976 National Forest Management Act have been in place for almost 10 years and are therefore subject to revision. Due to the relationship of the national forests and other federal lands to the biological, social, and economic conditions in the assessment area, more comprehensive and more scientifically credible data are needed to facilitate land management planning. This assessment supports individual forest plans by determining how the lands, resources, people, and management of the national forests interrelate within the larger context of the surrounding lands. The broadly identified pollutants and impacts of concern are not intended as a source of information upon which to base future regulatory or permitting action.
This report is one of five that document the results of the Southern Appalachian Assessment. The reports include a summary report, atmospheric, social/cultural/economic, terrestrial, and aquatic reports.
The five reports are available in printed form and via the Internet. By providing direct access to assessment materials via Internet, we hope that users can obtain information more quickly and at a lower cost than would have been possible otherwise. As with most reference documents, users will need only a small portion of the assessment for their specific projects at any given time. Moreover, an Internet document can be revised or updated when the occasion arises.
In-depth versions of data are available on the SAMAB, Forest Service, and Info South Home Pages on the World-Wide Web (WWW). These versions can be accessed at http://www.lib.utk.edu/samab for SAMAB's Southern Appalachian Home Page, at http://wwwfs.fed.us/ for the Forest Service Home Page, and at http://wwwfs.libs.uga.edu for the Info South Home Page. Additional materials such as maps and data that support the assessment are described and referenced in each report.
An executive policy group provided guidance on the needs and concerns of the federal and state interests represented, served as a communications link with those interests, and made policy decisions which affected the assessment. The policy group included Co-Chair Forrest Carpenter (U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA], Forest Service, Region 8); Co-Chair Cory Berish (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency); Co-Chair Charles Van Sickle (USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station); Elizabeth Smith, Niki Nicholas (Tennessee Valley Authority [TVA]); Joe Clark (U.S. Department of the Interior, National Biological Service); Brian Cole (U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service); Virginia Dale (U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory); Suzette Kimball (U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service); Boyd Rose (U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration); Russ England (Georgia Department of Natural Resources); Karl Hermann (U.S. Department of the Interior, National Biological Service Cooperative/University of Tennessee); Angela Pitcock (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation); and Hubert Hinote (Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere).
The assessment is divided into four major resource groups: terrestrial, atmospheric, aquatic, and social/cultural/economic. Teams were organized to address each group and to develop data and technical reports. Two of the teams were subdivided due to the diversity of the material they were developing: the Terrestrial Team was comprised of the Forest Health Subteam and the Plant and Animal Subteam; and, the Social/Cultural/Economic Team was comprised of the Human Dimensions Subteam, the Recreation Subteam, the Timber Supply and Demand Subteam, and the Roadless and Wilderness Subteam. Three operational groups were important to the development of the assessment reports: the Public Involvement Team, the Write/Edit/Design Team, and the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Team.
Assessment team leaders were: Aquatic Team, Jack Holcomb (USDA Forest Service) and Jim Harrison (EPA); Atmospheric Team, William Jackson (USDA Forest Service), Van Shrieves (EPA), James M. Kelly (TVA), and Jim Renfro (NPS); Social/Cultural/Economic Team, Ken Cordell (USDA Forest Service), Gerald Helton (USDA Forest Service), and John Peine (U.S. Department of the Interior, National Biological Service); Recreation Subteam, Larry Hayden (USDA Forest Service); Roadless and Wilderness Subteam, John Romanowski (USDA Forest Service); Human Dimensions Subteam, Ken Cordell (USDA Forest Service) and Timber Subteam, David Wear (USDA Forest Service); Terrestrial Team, Marisue Hilliard (USDA Forest Service); Forest Health Subteam, Tamara Malone (USDA Forest Service); Plant and Animal Subteam, Glen Gaines, (USDA Forest Service); Public Involvement Team, Stephanie Neal and Terry Seyden (USDA Forest Service); Write/Edit/Design Team, Jane Singleton and Barney Clegg (USDA Forest Service), and R.C. Biesterfeldt (contractor); and Geographic Information Systems, Karl Hermann (U.S. Department of the Interior, National Biological Service Cooperative/University of Tennessee) and Chris Frye (USDA Forest Service). The members of the four technical teams are acknowledged in the respective technical reports.
Several people representing major interests played important roles in the assessment. They attended numerous open-to-the-public team meetings throughout the assessment area and provided important input. Special recognition goes to Jim Loesel (Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition) and Debra Baker (Southern Timber Purchasers Council). Others who made special efforts to help in the assessment were Susan Andrew, Mary Wirth, Chris Haney, Kerry Brooks, and the many people who were not team members but worked long hours to help develop the reports.
Cover photos are by Bill Lea;, Asheville, NC; report designs and layout are by Project Center, Atlanta, GA; maps are by agency GIS; other graphics and tables are by Blue Line, Inc., Roanoke, VA.
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