Chattooga Quarterly
Spring, 2002
Spring Fare
Common Causes
First Annual Conservation Fair
Director's Page
Let’s face it. Times are not good for conservation. Yet this should not stop us from celebrating in those moments when we feel good about the value of our work. This spring, the Chattooga Conservancy sponsored our first annual Conservation Fair. The event was a great success, demonstrating the overwhelming support of the community and the untiring dedication of our staff. Read more.
Tragedy of the Commons
Imagine for a moment that you own two big dogs (let’s call them Jake and Lucky) and you have a nice fenced back yard where they can play. Your town also has a park nearby with a large area where dogs are allowed to be off their leashes. You notice that your own back yard is being ruined by the dogs digging and playing, and you constantly have to get out the pooper scooper. But, if you spend as much time as you can with your dogs at the park, your yard stays nicer, and besides, there’s no scooper law in your town. So, that’s where you hang out with Jake and Lucky. After a while you notice that more people are doing the same thing as you – using the park to exercise their dogs and keep their own yards neater. It’s working for you, so you spend more and more afternoons there. In time, the park begins to deteriorate. There are holes dug everywhere, bare trails where the dogs’ running and playing has killed the grass. And you better watch where you step. This, my friends, is the “tragedy of the commons.” Read more.
Save Our Hemlocks!
Picture yourself walking through a lush forest densely carpeted with trillium, moss, fern, and dozens of other ground loving plants. When you stop to take a drink from a cold, cascading mountain stream, you notice the majestic reflections of the old towering hemlocks that line the water’s edge. In fact, hemlocks are the only trees you see as you peer downstream into a deep gorge. Looking back into the water you catch a glimpse of a small brook trout darting in and out of the swift current, and just upstream a water shrew runs across an eddy and dives under the current searching for a meal. This picturesque scene is descriptive of the pristine hemlock forests found in the Ellicott Rock Wilderness Area in South Carolina. A short hike into an area such as this imparts a tremendous feeling of sorrow at the realization of what may be at stake. Read More.
Bull Pen Mill Restoration
I never intended to own a mill, or even to buy property. But on the way back from a trip to the Iron Bridge that crosses the Chattooga River, we stopped at a spot on Bull Pen Road and hiked through a tunnel of huge rhododendrons to a rustic cabin overlooking a 35 foot waterfall on Fowler Creek, a tributary to the Chattooga. The creek was crystal clear and at the bottom of the waterfall was a picturesque gristmill. I learned that the property was for sale, and it was bordered on two sides by the Nantahala National Forest. Over the next year I visited the mill and cabin, and wanted to preserve that gorgeous, pristine spot. Read more.
Eastern Cougars: Science, Skepticism, and Scat
Sometimes it seems that I am the only person I know who hasn’t seen a cougar in the mountains of western Virginia, where I live. Reports come in from all sides. Lori saw a black one playing at the foot of Little North Mountain not far from here, but she is a poet and a writer of fantasy novels, and sees things in the shadows that other people don’t. My neighbor Willy was startled the other night by a big, long-tailed cat that ran in front of his car; he is a hunter and said he never saw anything like it in the woods, but it was night and he barely got a glimpse as the animal streaked by. >Read more.
Conservation Fair
On Saturday, May 4th the Chattooga Conservancy hosted our first Conservation Fair. The event was spearheaded for years by Marie Mellinger, renowned Georgia botanist who has contributed to the community through her extraordinary knowledge of native plants and tireless work to save their habitats. The Conservancy was honored to take over the fair at Marie’s request. Read More.
- Amendment 14 – Recreational Boating Use on the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River
- Hemlock Woolly Adelgid - You Can Help
- Rabun County Board of Education Granted Land
- Rabun County Power Line Update, The Battle Goes On
- Chickens Come Home to Roost