In the 1990s, Georgia grew faster than any other state - a 26-percent explosion - making it the tenth most populous state in the nation. Yet, incredibly rugged and unprotected wild lands and pristine rivers await only a two-hour drive from Atlanta's sprawling metropolis. The Forest Service recognizes the 750,000-acre Chattahoochee National Forest as one of the few urban National Forests in the country. Ten million people visit each year - more than the Great Smoky Mountains, America's most heavily visited National Park. Recreational demand, high-quality fisheries, mature forests, intact watersheds, and some of the most beautiful scenery in the Southeast are all compelling reasons to protect more Wilderness areas here.
Popular Existing Wilderness
There are 10 Wilderness areas in the Chattahoochee National Forest. The 35,000-acre Cohutta, designated in 1975 and expanded in 1986, is the largest, most heavily used National Forest Wilderness in the Southern Appalachians. More than 60,000 visitors each year - hunters, hikers, and fishermen - enjoy the area's spectacular gorges and rushing rivers. Cohutta's Conasauga and Jacks Rivers are renowned for their clear water and abundant fish. Elsewhere, 11 miles of Appalachian Trail snake through rugged terrain in the popular Blood Mountain Wilderness. Brasstown Wilderness - characterized by steep ridges, remote coves, and narrow valleys, and home to white-tail deer, wild turkey, and black bear - encircles Georgia's highest mountain, the 4,800-foot Brasstown Bald.
Outstanding Candidates for Wilderness Designation
Kelly Ridge is a high, wild, and rugged 8,500-acre roadless area adjacent to Moccasin Creek and the 9,700-acre Tray Mountain Wilderness. Swallow Creek, an important trout stream, flows out of Kelly Ridge; its tributaries flow through the richest assemblage of north-facing hardwood coves in Georgia. Wilderness designation for Kelly Ridge, together with Tray Mountain, would permanently protect an 18,000-acre island in the sky, rich both in ecological treasures and scenery. The 10,000-acre Mountaintown area lies just southeast of the Cohutta Wilderness.
Here, the five-mile-long Mountaintown Creek Trail criss-crosses its namesake, a cascading stream with dramatic falls and gorges. The Benton MacKaye Trail runs along the high ridge in the eastern portion of the area and connects Alabama's Pinhoti Trail to the Appalachian Trail. Mountaintown features high-elevation terrain with steep slopes, waterfalls, and clear, broad streams popular with fishermen. It shelters rare and threatened plants, including purple-fringed orchid, mountain camellia, yellow lady's slipper, and stands of mixed oak and hickory old growth.
Rabun County includes three important areas that should be protected as Wilderness: Patterson Gap, Rabun Bald, and Three Forks.
The 5,500-acre Patterson Gap roadless area (also known as Joe Gap) features a high mountain bog on Keener Creek. This unusual ecosystem hosts the rare painted trillium and the bog turtle. Its diverse terrain includes rich north-facing coves, steep slopes, rock outcroppings, the 4,000-footWolf Knob, and excellent trout fishing in Persimmon Creek, Howard Branch, and their tributaries.
Named after the second highest peak in Georgia, the 5,000-acre Rabun Bald roadless area is believed to be the southern limit for many rare and endangered species, including a number of salamanders. One of Georgia's richest botanical sites, Rabun Bald dazzles visitors with orchids, trillium, azaleas, mountain laurel, and rhododendron. It also harbors unique stands of dwarf oak and heath near the summit. Excellent opportunities for hiking abound along the Bartram National Recreation Trail, and native brook trout make this area a popular fishing destination. Incredibly, this rare wild land is open to logging.
Steep gorges with spectacular rock formations characterize the 3,000-acre Three Forks area. Here, Overflow, Holcomb, and Big Creeks converge to form the West Fork of the Chattooga River, currently Georgia's only Wild and Scenic River. Accessed by Three Forks Trail, the area features some of the best native trout habitat remaining in Georgia, as well as pocket-sized stands of old growth along some streams.
Just north of Rich Mountain Wilderness is the 4,150-acre Cold Mountain area, which should be designated Wilderness; together these two areas constitute one large block of wild country - a vanishing resource in the Southern Appalachians. Cold Mountain contains rich coves covered with a deep, black potter's loam resulting in spectacular wildflower displays. Thick forests of basswood, ash, and black cherry support one of the region's best black bear populations.
For more information on the coalition and organizations working to protect Georgia's remaining wild lands, contact:
