There are special areas on the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests, returned to wildness and providing solitude from the crowds of more popular tourist areas. These are some of the jewels I have loved and visited during my 41 years as a resident of Swannanoa and Western North Carolina.
Two examples are Mackey Mountain on the Pisgah near the Blue Ridge Parkway and Tusquitee Bald in the west on the Nantahala. A rule protecting these areas from road building and logging was adopted in 2001 by the USDA Forest Service with broad support. The idea of protecting these areas was beloved from the start with 1.9 million people supporting its creation in 1999.
Known as the Roadless Rule, all that it protects is in jeopardy now that the U.S Agriculture Department has announced that it intends to revoke the Rule. This means that nearly 58 million acres of of undeveloped backcountry forestland managed by the U.S. Forest Service, comprising around a third of the territory in our national forest system…