Published: February 04, 2008 10:01 am      

A walk on the wildside

What if you worked for years to purchase land for a state linear park, raised $1.2 million from the public, plus another $2.3 from the state and federal government, then asked thousands of volunteers to come build a trail? And what if they came, year after year, putting in 10,000 hours of volunteer time a year, and then one day you arrived at the trail, and a bulldozer had dozed right through your trail, knocking down trees, pushing stone, gravel, plants and dirt into the gorge below? You’d be mad, right? You’d want a law to stop it, right?

That’s just what has happened to a critical portion of the Cumberland Trail in Deep Creek Gorge near Soddy Daisy, down toward Chattanooga. In this pristine area where federally protected endangered plant and animals were found, Lahiere-Hill, a company from Florida, has scarred the landscape, putting in roads, banging up trees, digging “benches,” all without regard to the trail, the flora and fauna. Using huge earth moving machines, they are literally strip mining the sides of the gorge, with no regard to the painstaking work of the trail builders. Eight acres of trail have been destroyed so far. When Bowater sold land to Tennessee they did not convey the mineral rights. Now-popular dimension stone has never been included under Tennessee mining laws, so no compensation, restoration or restitution is required.

Right now, with a water run-off permit, a Chancery court judge in Chattanooga court has decided it’s all legal. The state is appealing this ruling, noting the judge did not allow a hearing. In the meantime, two courageous legislators from Hamilton County have drafted a bill to close this huge loophole in the mining laws of Tennessee to include dimension stone.

“When it comes to the environment, that’s the last thing on their minds,” Tony Hook, Cumberland Trail Conference manager, told me recently at the CTC office here in Crossville. “This is a state park – for all the residents of Tennessee. Tourism is big income for our state, and when this 300 mile trail is complete, I expect people to come from all over the US and overseas to use it. This is a crime against everyone who enjoys outdoor recreational pursuits,” Tony explained.

Senate Bill 2781 and House Bill 2764 are companion bills being introduced by Bo Watson and Richard Floyd, respectively. They are looking for co-sponsors for this legislation which would make Tennessee mining law consistent so that dimension stone, now exempt, would be included along with coal and other minerals. If that were the case, the mineral rights owners would be required to reclaim the site once they’re finished.

While most other Tennessee parks own their mineral rights, not all do. The McCuistion portion of the Cumberland Mountain State Park does not, for example. But by far the state park most affected is the CTC. Ironically, the state has a $1,000,000 grant to study a federally endangered plant species that was meticulously avoided when the trail was built in Soddy Daisy. That did not stop the bulldozers, however. Instead, one of the most pristine areas purchased for its unique natural beauty is gone.

It is important to know that this proposed legislation will not shut down privately owned rock quarries or put local people out of work. It will, however, begin to equalize the rights of surface owners and mineral owners. “So far, missing from this debate,” says local hiker and trail builder Jim Mcullough, “is a sense of community outrage. Why have mineral rights owners trumped the state of Tennessee’s surface rights and what does that imply for any surface rights owner – like you or me?” Tony and Jim stress that “this is not just an ordinary trail – it’s very scenic, and the most spectacular views are in this area.” Added Tony, “It is Tennessee’s mission to preserve the natural resources of our parks, and they’re hauling it off. In this beautiful gorge, all that nature has done is being undone.”

State Senator Charlotte Burkes and state Representative Eric Swafford are our two local legislators. You can e-mail them at burks@legislature.state.tn.us and rep.eric.swafford@legislature.state.tn.us. Let us hope they will join Watson and Floyd and sign on as co-sponsors of their bills to correct this imbalance between surface owners and mineral rights owners.

Attention all bird watchers: The Great Backyard Bird Count is Feb. 15-18. Details can be found at www.birdcount.org. All it takes is 15 minutes (or more, if you cover more than one location; just keep a separate sheet for each location). Count the greatest number of each species that you see together at any one time, and write it down. Then enter your results at www.birdcount.org. Last year participants submitted 80,000 checklists. There is a GBBC “movie” posted on the Web site at www.birdcournt.org/gbbc-overview-report.