A 2008 economic impact study by Colorado State University estimates that national scenic area designation for this lightly used part of Pisgah National Forest would draw an estimated 1.5 million new visitors a year, generate $38.4 million a year in added economic activity and create 724 new jobs. Proponents say the GNSA would also “open up funding for many kinds of new trails,” says Hanes Boren, owner of Boone’s Footsloggers outdoor store. “That’s huge to the economy.”
The dramatic 4,000-foot peaks and vast woodlands of the proposed GNSA provide the backdrop for dozens of overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway, viewpoints on Grandfather Mountain, and other locations in the Blowing Rock area. A North Carolina Natural Heritage Program report calls the backcountry of Grandfather Mountain “one of the most significant sites in the southern Appalachian Mountains, comparable in terms of biodiversity with Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Roan Mountain.”
Tennessee Wilderness Act Returns
A bill that would create the first new Wilderness area in Tennessee in 25 years was recently reintroduced to the Senate. If passed, the Tennessee Wilderness Act would protect 20,000 acres of the Cherokee National Forest by expanding five existing Wilderness areas (Big Frog, Little Frog, Joyce Kilmer Slickrock, Big Laurel Branch, Sampson Mountain) and adding the brand new Upper Bald River Wilderness Area. The Benton Mackaye Trail passes through the proposed Upper Bald River Wilderness, which sits south of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, on the Tennessee/N.C. border. Senator Lamar Alexander introduced the bill in 2010, but the session timed out before it could come up for a vote.
Even in these lean economic times, where public land budgets are being slashed, Wilderness advocates are optimistic that this bill will pass.
“There’s no budget appropriation associated with this legislation,” says Jeff Hunter, director of Tennessee Wild. “And Wilderness has always been bipartisan. Our bill has two GOP senators championing it. A bipartisan package will be key to passage.”
