The opportunity to preserve large tracts of forest land on the Cumberland Plateau is waning as timber giant Bowater Inc. continues selling off its holdings in the biologically rich region, conservationists say.
South Carolina-based Bowater plans to sell 250,000 acres of its property on the plateau and another 100,000 acres in the Tennessee Valley.
About half of the land has been sold already, an Bowater officials expect to complete the sale by the end of the year.
Jutting through Tennessee from Kentucky south to Alabama, the plateau rises more than 1,000 feet above the Tennessee River Valley. Scientists say the area's maze of ridges, ravines, gorges and waterfalls still nurtures one of the country's most biologically rich ecosystems.
Tennessee officials announced in July that they will buy 13,000 acres of the Bowater land with $20 million from the Heritage Conservation Trust Fund, which was created by Gov. Phil Bredesen last year to help protect natural areas.
The transaction includes several tracts that complete forest corridors on the plateau, connecting public lands around Fall Creek Falls and the Cumberland Trail.
But conservationists say more needs to be done as vacation and retirement homes are being built, often along the brow of the rugged ridges.
Bill Terry, a planner and former state Department of Conservation employee, said the development can fragment the plateau's forests.
"They can't put large tracts of land back together once they're split apart," Terry said.
He said the danger could be lessened by zoning or at least some planning guidelines, but most of the 21 counties on the plateau do not have zoning or land-use plans.
"There is enormous landowner resistance to even the discussion of zoning," he said.
Jonathan P. Evans, director of the Landscape Analysis Laboratory at the University of the South in Sewanee, said the state must take the lead in developing "outside-the-box thinking."
"These counties are completely unequipped in terms in their ability to plan for growth," Evans said. "A lot of county executives think any development is good development."
The solution is not a matter of money, he said, "it's a rethink."
"You really can make money off of tourism," Evans said. "People in state government understand that, but there's a disconnect."
But Grundy County Mayor Ladue "Boo" Bouldin said public officials have to balance preservation with development. He noted that the median household income in his county, population 14,608, still is less than $23,000 a year.
"I have to be for the economic development of the county," Bouldin said. "You can't just have preservation."Associated Press via Knox News
