Time short to voice opinion on plan for new forest rules

Maggie Metheney, who has backpacked and fly-fished in Oconee County, said she opposes efforts to log the forest. She was shopping at Sunrift Adventures in Travelers Rest. (Bart Boatwright/Staff) e-mail this story

"It's the old saying, 'A bad day in the woods is better than a good day at work,'" he said. "It's totally true."

Little more than two weeks remain in a comment period that gives the public a chance to tell the federal government how it feels about a Bush administration proposal that would open some of the Upstate's most scenic terrain to road building. The deadline to send letters and e-mails to the U.S. Forest Service is Nov. 15.

New roads in the state's two national forests could impact hikers, fishermen and campers, as well as anyone downstream.

Mingteh Chang, forest hydrology professor at Stephen F. Austin State University, said building roads compacts soil and causes erosion. "It's going to jeopardize water quality," Chang said.

Supporters say that opening the areas to road-building would benefit forests by offering easier access to fight wildfires and insect infestation.

At issue is more than 7,500 acres of Francis Marion and Sumter national forests, which include sections of the Chattooga River and the Foothills Trail. The ban on roads has meant no logging in areas now used for outdoor recreation.

Maggie Metheney, who has backpacked and fly-fished in the area, said she opposes efforts to log the forest.

"I want to see trees," she said. "That's important to me."

More than 6,100 acres of Sumter National Forest in northwestern Oconee County are considered roadless. Hikers use the trails to escape the hustle-bustle of city life. Fishermen pull brown trout out of the Chattooga River. Campers pitch tents under trees hundreds of years old.

About 1.1 million visitors each year enjoy the 622,000 acres in two forests, although it's unknown how many venture into the roadless areas.

Mike Crane, district ranger, said the roadless areas of Sumter National Forest see "moderate" use.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, who announced the plan in July, said it would give states more input on federal land decisions and help settle lawsuits over roadless areas. Environmentalists say it would open ecologically sensitive public lands to logging, mining and oil and gas exploration.

The plan would upend a prohibition on road building that President Clinton approved in the final days of his presidency. Under Bush's plan, governors would have to petition the federal government to maintain roadless protections.

Most of the 59 million acres of roadless area is out West, but it's become an issue in the Southeast with the governors of Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia expressing concerns in writing to the Bush administration.

Will Folks, a spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford, said he was unaware whether the governor had written a letter to the administration. But if logging national forests in South Carolina ever became a "clear and present danger," Sanford would "engage" it, he said.

"This is a guy who has always advanced conservation," Folks said.

The state's logging industry has said it wouldn't want to harvest timber from the Sumter National Forest, even if it could, because the terrain is too rugged.

Hugh Irwin, a conservation planner with the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, said his biggest concern is the impact of roads, not logging, on the forest. While the "footprint" of a road may be small, it can affect drainage patterns and wildlife movement throughout the area.

"It takes a very long time to heal," he said.

The roadless areas in Sumter National Forest are called Bee Cove, Big Mountain, Ellicott Rock and Ellicott Rock I not to be confused with Ellicott Rock Wilderness, which isn't affected. The Upstate has most of the state's roadless land, but Francis Marion National Forest has 1,420 acres in Charleston and Berkeley counties.

The Clinton administration's ban on roads has spawned lawsuits in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, North Dakota, Wyoming and Washington, D.C.

Benjamin Alper said he started his college education at Clemson University because he liked the natural beauty of the nearby mountains. Now a student at the University of Georgia, he still escapes to the mountains to hike in the remote wilderness.

"It would be tragic to see it go," he said. Paul Alongi can be reached at 298-4746.