Envisioning the Scope of the Chattooga Conservation Plan

The Ellicott Rock Wilderness Area, the Blue Valley Experimental Forest, the Overflow Semi-Primitive Recreation Area, and the Rabun Bald, Rock Gorge and Terrapin Mountain Roadless Areas are significant blocks of mature forest, each containing fragments of old growth forest and tracts of maturing second-growth forest. Nearby are other areas of mature forest, isolated old growth fragments in the central and southern portions of the watershed, and several specially protected areas. The Chattooga Wild and Scenic River Corridor serves to connect them all. Together, if properly designated and managed, these areas could form a viable core of mature interior forest habitat needed by so many of our native species, especially those currently in decline. With the addition of wildlife corridors, both within the watershed and to adjacent special forests outside the watershed, the plan is a feasible first step toward restoring the biological integrity of the Southern Appalachian region.

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