How did Tellico become a OHV area?

[James_Fendley]

There is a article and picture in the Asheville paper today. I am going to write a letter in response. Any Tellico history would help. Also the picture is one of the mud holes on 8 I think. Have they been filled in?

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770708015


Thanks, James

[s10er8]

I went all the way around 8 last month and there was a few wet places but definately no ruts like that.

[McCracken]

Motherfuck. It's now in the biggest hippy infested, gay ridden city's newspaper.

edit: btw, Tellico was formed after logging had been done. All the trails there were once logging roads.

[biggin]

I dont know how it started, but my dad can remember wheeling there in the early 70's.

[5.2Krawler]

That is definatly the mud holes on 8 and yes they have been filled in.

[BigGreenMonster]

this is nuts. i hope southern sees the severity of this problem.

[McCracken]

everyone here should read that article and comment. i did. leave the cussing out and make solid points that refute what they say about us.

[BigGreenMonster]

i did not put my screenname but i am mike, behind s10er8

[s10er8]

everyone here should read that article and comment. We are talking EVERYBODY!

I didnt want to keep rattling on, maybe somebody can touch on the fact that WE are hunters, fishermen, hikers..... outdoorsmen. We care about those trout a hell of a lot more than they ever will.

[74_Chevota]

Just commented. That is nuts they are using pictures that are old.

[kibblerange]

Otey's words are nothing more than a complete misrepresentation of the situation. There are not "hundreds" of trails in the ORV area. There are 12. Only 12 and only 11 accessible by truck.

The area is managed to help prevent sedimentation. Southern Four Wheel Drive and fellow volunteers have helped to maintain the trails through the years. A portion of the money made from membership is donated each year to help achieve Forest Service goals.

I believe that the individual groups have found a scapegoat. They do not want to look at other causes for their supposed brook trout population decline. Are they being over fished? Too much access? Can anyone come out and try to find the elusive brook trout? Yes, on all accounts. Anglers leave trash, mishook fish leaving them scarred for life or unable to eat for days. Then once they catch the fish they remove their delicate coating which leaves them more susceptible to injury and disease. Why not put a ban on brook trout fishing?

They assume that everyone that visits the area is some no account, beer-gutted redneck hell bent on destroying the earth. These "monster" trucks are built to be more capable and leave less impact on the land. Most enthusiasts adhere to the "Tread Lightly" philosophy.

I believe the groups interested have neglected to do first things first, clean their own backyard. To sum it up, the big dog barks loudest and in this case the anglers are their own worst enemy.

How can they argue with this? I'd like to know. This comment kicked their ass IMO! These same points should be brought up if anything does take place in a lawsuit.

-Very Awesome! Someone should send this link to the Trout Unlimited and all the Forest Services.

[thumping]

How can they argue with this? I'd like to know. This comment kicked their ass IMO! These same points should be brought up if anything does take place in a lawsuit.

-Very Awesome! Someone should send this link to the Trout Unlimited and all the Forest Services.

Also, if I'm not mistaking, the trout in those streams are actually stocked. So maybe they have cut back on the number of trout released. Also due to the shortage of rain fall the streams are lower than normal which would cause the trout to go to deeper holes and would not be moving up and down the stream as much. It amazes me how some people will bitch when they are doing nothing more than fishing in a barrel...bitching because someone did not put enough fish in the barrel for them.

We were at Tellico this past weekend and they have done butt loads of work to the trails. I guess the also failed to mention anything about all the bridges that have been built to keep people out of the streams…well except the dorks in thigh high waders.

Hey here is a thought, lets bring in PETA because these fishermen are hurting our fish and are depleting the spices. Give them someone else to fight with so they will leave us alone. Then lets see how they like being attacked and lied about.

thumping

[Tommy70K5]

Sent the author an email and posted!

[GSW]

Commented. Asheville is a hot bed for enviro-activists so it's important to have our voices heard in that forum.

[redneckengineered]

Commented.

[kibblerange]

Tellico River is stocked.

[Slick Willie]

It doesn't matter what side you're on here, the media is and always has been a problem with influence. What they say, people listen to, and 70% of people believe what they hear because they don't know enought about it themselves.

I'll bet $100 that the lawyers, the forest service, trout unlimited, Tellico OHV, SFWD, etc. all have factual information regarding the issues in question and that the media is filling people full of shit. One side will have water quality data, trout population data, habitat data, etc. and the other side will have trail data, CURRENT trail conservation data, fisherman access data, etc. to be laid out in front of everyone.

It just sucks that the media is making offroaders out to be the bad people instead of the trout people. Damn media. I posted, but it says I'm from Houston. I didn't even say where I was from. ???

[weedwacker]

At the Smoky Mountians National, and Brasstown Bald (Ga.) parks I saw a displays on the logging of the mountians years ago. Lots of pictures of whole mountians cut bare, with rail tracks set up to hauls logs out. One of the winches that was set on rails is in the Tellico park but I forgot where. From what I read there is not much "old growth" forest in the Smokies.

I would bet some of the Tellico trails are over 100 years old.

[tellicorob]

The mud hole in SELC's news releases was on trail 8. It was fixed on March 11,2006. I've got the pics from the work day that shows us doing it.This sort of thing is a lot of their propaganda. Most of their allegations / info in their "intent to sue" are like that. a pint of truth in a barrel of bs.

[tellicorob]

The OHV area was taken over by the USFS in the mid 80’s. Before that it was private land and lumber company land. Most of the area was clear cut until the early 70’s. B says that he has pics from the 60’s that look like moonscapes. I’ve also been told that the southern strain brook trout were nearly wiped out then. The original trails were logging roads. When the forest service took over there was nearly 100 miles of trail. They closed most of them. The trails we ride are in only one half of the area. The other half is in the other drainage (not the Tellico).The forest service also closed most of the trails that ran to or near the water. The only ones that are near the river now had to be left for access (4, 5, and 6). As far as stocking goes North Carolina Wildlife doesn’t stock fish in the OHV area. The trout stocking is on the Tennessee side of the line by Tennessee Wildlife. These are only rainbow, and only in the Tellico River. There have been some stockings of Northern strain Brook trout in North River. There was also a transfer/restocking of Southern strain Brook trout in McNabb creek in 2005. Many of the streams on the Tennessee side were wiped out by acid leaching from the rock during construction of the Cherohala Skyway. Before that Southern strain Brook trout were collected/hatched/re-stocked in Sycamore and Brookshire creeks in the early 90’s. This was done at the Tellico Trout Hatchery (to my knowledge we are the only hatchery in Tennessee to successfully hatch Southern strain). I don’t know if North Carolina has had any luck. Southern Four Wheel Drive Assn. has been in on the maint of the area since the USFS took it over. Many of our members (especially Gunnar Byrd and Grif Shirley) are the reason that the area is still open. The funding for this area comes from daily fees, grant money and donations from SFWDA. The daily fees go to pay USFS salaries associated with the area operations and to provide materials. The grant money pays for the large projects (the new bridge, the Allen gap parking lot expansion, etc.) and equipment contracts. The rest is provided by SFWDA. We own and operate the dump trucks and backhoes that you see in the area. We also volunteer our time and other resources to do the work that keeps the area open. In the months of May, June, and the first week of July alone SFWDA has provided over $22,000 in machine time and labor. We are still going full speed ahead on the trail work. Well you asked for it and there it is (partially anyway).If anyone has any facts or corrections that they are CERTAIN of, please throw them in. Keep the rubber side down ROB

[BigGreenMonster]

i was thinking about this today... obviously they are trying to make a mountin from a pile of bull shit... the trail millage and the mud hole is obsolete. come to find out the trout were wipped out by a highway. so when were these water tests taken? last month, year 1987?? with all the current work how can that not be taken into consideration?

[BigGreenMonster]

rob, thanks for all your hard work!

[James_Fendley]

Thank you Rob:beer:

James

[jeep99]

The OHV area was taken over by the USFS in the mid 80’s. Before that it was private land and lumber company land. Most of the area was clear cut until the early 70’s. B says that he has pics from the 60’s that look like moonscapes. I’ve also been told that the southern strain brook trout were nearly wiped out then. The original trails were logging roads. When the forest service took over there was nearly 100 miles of trail. They closed most of them. The trails we ride are in only one half of the area. The other half is in the other drainage (not the Tellico).The forest service also closed most of the trails that ran to or near the water. The only ones that are near the river now had to be left for access (4, 5, and 6). As far as stocking goes North Carolina Wildlife doesn’t stock fish in the OHV area. The trout stocking is on the Tennessee side of the line by Tennessee Wildlife. These are only rainbow, and only in the Tellico River. There have been some stockings of Northern strain Brook trout in North River. There was also a transfer/restocking of Southern strain Brook trout in McNabb creek in 2005. Many of the streams on the Tennessee side were wiped out by acid leaching from the rock during construction of the Cherohala Skyway. Before that Southern strain Brook trout were collected/hatched/re-stocked in Sycamore and Brookshire creeks in the early 90’s. This was done at the Tellico Trout Hatchery (to my knowledge we are the only hatchery in Tennessee to successfully hatch Southern strain). I don’t know if North Carolina has had any luck. Southern Four Wheel Drive Assn. has been in on the maint of the area since the USFS took it over. Many of our members (especially Gunnar Byrd and Grif Shirley) are the reason that the area is still open. The funding for this area comes from daily fees, grant money and donations from SFWDA. The daily fees go to pay USFS salaries associated with the area operations and to provide materials. The grant money pays for the large projects (the new bridge, the Allen gap parking lot expansion, etc.) and equipment contracts. The rest is provided by SFWDA. We own and operate the dump trucks and backhoes that you see in the area. We also volunteer our time and other resources to do the work that keeps the area open. In the months of May, June, and the first week of July alone SFWDA has provided over $22,000 in machine time and labor. We are still going full speed ahead on the trail work. Well you asked for it and there it is (partially anyway).If anyone has any facts or corrections that they are CERTAIN of, please throw them in. Keep the rubber side down ROB
Thanks for all the history on Tellico. I found your post and the SELC's own web site (selcga.org) the most informative. The "newspapers" as usual got it wrong and dramatized the situation as good vs evil. Here is my take on it.

The real damage to the environment is not people accessing and enjoying nature it is development. SELC, the law firm filing suit against the division of forestry for miss-management of the Tellico –ORV area, shows pictures on their website of rain water run off flowing into streams. This problem isn't isolated to the Tellico ORV area. Despite water quality which has been deteriorating for centuries throughout the country, their clients own literature states that the Tellico area has the largest quality trout habitats remaining in the southeast. A study they published states:” Regional experts specifically identified urbanization … as major threats to brook trout habitat". Their literature further suggests many causes for decreasing brook trout other than miss-management of the OHV, including: non-native fish, agriculture, and logging. The effect of this law suit maybe outside management or outright sale of this property, which would not be in anyone's best interest, especially the trout. At the present time there is a very good balance between preservation and the use of this land. The money being wasted on this suit could be put to better use. Such as funding new research to confirm my survey findings that 9 out of 10 brook trout prefer four wheel drives over fishermen. Thanks SFWDA, Pirate, and all those who have written letters and posts to expose the truth and help the cause.

[Trailworks]

The money being wasted on this suit could be put to better use. Such as funding new research to confirm my survey findings that 9 out of 10 brook trout prefer four wheel drives over fishermen.


:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:

[jeep99]

OHVs did not create the trails but instead it is logging roads and skid trails which were poorly located, with steep grades and no drainage; thus preventing natural regeneration in these areas. Constant restoration has been in progress since the forestry department acquired the land in 1980. There new bridges over sensitive areas, silt traps, and water diverters in place. Tellico ORV was selected as one of the five most outstanding trails in the nation last year and SFWDA was recognized and awarded for its efforts in responsible use and preservation of the Tellico OHV area.

It has been suggested in comments else where to this article that there has been a change in the way they count the trout that has accounted for the decrease this year. Is it true that the trout are now counted above 4” instead of 2” as in previous years?

[Florida Bronco]

this is good info. did anyone get to have a resposne printed in the Asheville paper, detailing any of these points , old photo, causes of water pollutuion, etc?

[ZJim]

Yeah, how can those of us who don't live near Tellico help?

[87JeepWrangler]

Yeah, how can those of us who don't live near Tellico help?


x2. too many trail closures and close calls lately.

[Mike327]

Maybe sue the fishermen for distrubing the fish. After all thats our tax dollars being spent on restocking.

[darwin27]

Yeah, how can those of us who don't live near Tellico help?

Please let us know. Sounds ridiculous.

[KiGrind]

From what I read there is not much "old growth" forest in the Smokies.

Are you refering to virgin tember? I think thats what they call it, area/wood that has not been cut yet. And your right, there is not a lot.

[Schmozilla]

Man, fuck his counch... I want the trout out of my sediment deposit area...:shaking:

[Blue Ridge Runner]

I have responded there as well as a few other wheelers. We need to support the SFWDA in this. I have e-mailed them asking for information on membership for Zuwharrie but I have yet to get a response. Zuwharrie has also opened a "Land Use Forum" also. Getting the ORV community motivated is where I am heading. The more of us that speak out and make contributions the better.

[Tommy70K5]

I emailed the president of the paper, and ask that they look into the facts they printed, that a lot of it was not true....here was there response:

I first wrote"Sir,
Are you aware that your newspaper printed an article written by Nacy
Bompey, on July 9th, that is full of unfactual information? It is
articles like this that are not truthfull that harm the fourwheel drive
community and give us a bad name. Have you read the comments on the
article? There are facts that have been misconstrued, and facts that
should be noted that were not. I feel Mrs. Bompey did a poor job
researching the facts of this issue, and we(the four wheel drive
community) deserve an apology and a full article with the truthful facts
printed. I hope that you don't just diasreguard this letter and allow
the truth to go unheard. If you read the comments you will find plenty
of sources of truthfull info of how we do care about this public land
and how we do our part to preserve it.


Thanks you"
her first response..
"Our publisher sent me your message. Can you please enlighten me as to
what information is incorrect? We'll be happy to correct any information
that is wrong.


Susan Ihne


Susan Ihne, executive editor
Asheville Citizen-Times
14 O. Henry Ave., Asheville, NC 28802
828-232-5954
sihne@CITIZEN-TIMES.com"

I replied..."The comments Otey made that said there is hundreds of legal and illegal trails is not true. There are 12 trails that are maintained for OHV use. Any illegal trails that do get cut, are quickly blocked off. These trails add up to less than 30 miles.
The photo of the huge mudhole that an issue is made out of is a couple of years old; it was repaired shortly after it developed, and was done so, that it would not just come right back. Maintenace is constantly going on to prevent runoff, reparing trails, which Southern For Wheel Drive Assoc(SFWDA) provides, not to mention the many clubs that volunteer their time for work days also.
Bridges have been built across the water crossings to prevent crossing through the water, and another is in the works across the last major crossing, of course no mention of these efforts.
Also a factor in the declining trout numbers could be a change in how they count them, going from counting 2" and larger to counting 4" and larger; this could show a significant drop, that would also be misleading. Maybe the trout are being overfished, have they thought this could be a problem?
The roads we ride on are old logging roads that have been there for decades, and the SFWDA and club volunteers have done a great deal to preserve and protect this area we love to ride so much.
The group of 10-12 rigs that I visit the area 3, sometimes 4 times a year spend an average of $700-$800 in the local economy, and we are only a fraction of the people who visit the area. That being said, I think we have a significant impact on the local economy.
People don't go toTellico to "mudride", we go to enjoy the rugged rocky terrain that Tellico offers.
Runoff, erosion, is a problem that would exist even if we did not ride the trails, and in my opinion, and many others, would be worse without the efforts of SFWDA and the many volunteers.
On a fianl note, this is "everyones" public land to enjoy, why can't we work together, instead of wasting the limited resources of the Foresry Service by involving them in legal circumstances?"

and her response today...
"We checked it out and this is the response I received.
Susan,
I spoke with Nanci and had her call back the Trout Unlimited contact
whom she quoted as saying there are hundreds of legal and illegal
trails. He said there is no way of knowing exactly how many, since they
are being cut and covered up constantly. But he reiterated that
"hundreds" is safe to say.
The story was not about this group - good or bad - it was about a
potential lawsuit by Trout Unlimited against the U.S. Forest Service. It
sounds like this person and the off road vehicle group in general are
just sensitive about anything that touches on their "sport."
I do not feel that a correction is needed.
Karen Chavez
Specialties Editor
Asheville Citizen-Times
P.O. Box 2090
Asheville, NC 28801
office - (828) 236-8980
toll-free - (800) 800-4204 X8980
mobile - (828) 712-6316
E-mail: KChavez@CITIZEN-TIMES.com "

Sounds like they don't want to hear what we have to say!

You guys see here email!

[Blue Ridge Runner]

A decent investigative reporter would check out their sources before writing a story that can have holes punched into it. I believe that a retraction is in order. Since you have their attention ask them to take a trip out there and get a first hand look. I will bet a SFWDA member would be glad to give a reporter a tour in order to get a truthful story.

I will write a letter tonight.

Bet the reporter would not do it though. :shaking:

The lawyers have the media in their pocket.

The fishermen will soon be sorry for opening up this can of worms. I think we need to get PETA involved since the fishermen are killing fish by removing them from their fragile habitat. I would hate to stoop to that level. I will if Tellico gets shut down. The fishermen have fired the first shot though. :mad3:

[BigGreenMonster]

i am an avid hunter and i hate to think that as well... but if tellico gets shut down over this then you are right.

he is a something that does not look good... i was watching modern marvels last night and if a hydro electric damn interfears with a fish habbitat then the damn either fixes the problem or they do not operate anymore... if hydro electric power cannot beat fish there is no way offroaders can win

[flexasouras REX]

I dont understand, their worried about saving the trout in NC. Then in VA (were i'm from) they hire off duty law enforcement to go through the city's and kill dear, due to population.

Enviromentalist's are like a fart in a whirl wind! Or maybe people like me "the average Joe" dont understand!

[Blue Ridge Runner]

This is how SFWDA handles Tellico. What a smack in the face. They clean up after the worthless people that litter the creeks and rivers and then get sued for destroying the water quality by the people that they helped do the cleanup. Here is the SFWDA doing what they do best:

http://sfwda.com/trails/tellico/cleanup20060311/index.html

7th Annual Tellico River Cleanup

by Stefan Roth, March 2006

Member of Southern Four Wheel Drive Association (SFWDA) and other volunteer groups recently spent a Saturday out in the woods on National Forest lands, picking up litter that thoughtless or careless people had discarded on public lands.

SFWDA President Bob Yarbrough, who was out with the work crews picking up trash, said , "It a great way for us to help the Forest Service take care of our public lands. We enjoy the recreational opportunities and we're willing to work to make them possible."

The 7th Annual Tellico River Cleanup Day was held on March 11, 2006. Organized as a partnership between Southern Four Wheel Drive Association, Trout Unlimited, and the U.S. Forest Service, it has grown quite a bit since its inception and the event regularly brings out 200 - 300 people from dozens of recreation groups - hiking and walking groups, kayaking and canoeing clubs, fishing and hunting clubs, 4-wheel drive clubs, and nearby businesses.

The volunteer groups split up into small groups and covered literally dozens of miles of roads, trails, and river banks in the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests, which border each other across the Tennessee / North Carolina state line.

Mary Jane Burnette of the Forest Service's Tellico Ranger District reported that she had 182 volunteers working in Tennessee. Larry Fox, Forestry Technician with the Tusquitee Ranger District, counted 113 volunteers in North Carolina. This adds up to a grand total of 295 volunteers cleaning up dozens of miles of trails and roads. Of these volunteers, 183 volunteers came from local and regional 4-wheel-drive groups. Everyone should be very proud of the dedication shown by all the volunteers..

For example, Southern Jeeps, out of Atlanta, worked the areas east of the state line in North Carolina. "We had 30 members attend and covered about one and a half miles of trails," says Scott Gregg, President of Southern Jeeps.

Wayne and Joyce Kickles from Smoky Mountain Trail Runners 4WD Club spent 8 hours on Saturday on the cleanup and workday. Wayne wrote us, "We picked up some trash on the way up to the work areas, but got most of what we collected at the top of trail 9. Once we reached the work areas, we spent most of our time cleaning and helping to install the fence at the top of trail 9 (see related story)."

Eric Potts and two friends in his Jeep picked up trash for a mile on trail 6 - until their trash bags filled up. They came up from Georgia to help out because they like to ride at Upper Tellico OHV Area.

JimBob Faulk reports that there were two members from Traxx in Motion, traveling all the way from Nashville, Tennessee. JimBob reports, "We cleaned down along the river on trail 5. The big camping area near the water crossing had a wealth of "crap." Literally, the highlights were nearly 2 dozen small propane bottles, multiple tampons, and someone's homemade toilet (5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat on top). We also worked the area from Big Oak campground to the next campsite toward Tellico Plains."

Scott Correll from Cumberland Off-Road in Cookeville, Tennessee wrote to tell us that their club had five adults and three children working for five hours on trail 9 from the garden below slick rock to the top. They picked up mostly stuff from the "bystanders" area and off to the sides of the trail.

"Nine members from Georgia 4x4 and Off Camber 4WD cleaned trail 1 from the lower trail 2 entrance to the upper 2 entrance and collected 12 bags of garbage - approximately 1.5 miles of trail, " reported Mark Webb, the Director of Land Use for Off Camber 4WD Club from Atlanta, Georgia. In addition, three vehicles from Off Camber 4WD and 5 vehicles from Clemson Offroad cleaned from the beginning of trail 3, up trail 12 over to Pinch Rock on trail 11. Others cleaned up on the entrance to upper trail 2 and surrounding area around the top of lower trail 2.

Ten members Rock Solid Jeep club attending the cleanup day started at State Line and went along Tellico River Road to the road to trail 2. Then they went up the gravel road almost to the top of lower 2 and back down. They continued on up the River Road a couple of miles past the gravel road, where they met members from the Renegade 4WD Club cleaning up along the road and river. Gary Parsons reports that they found the normal bottles and cans, an old chair, and the elastic band from a pair of men's underwear.

Land Rover owner David Russell brought four other members of the Southern Land Rover Society to the cleanup day. David reported, "We did about 2 miles on trail 1 towards Murphy. We cleaned up about 50' off the trail in those hard to get to places. We picked up mostly cans and bottles and filled 2 1/2 trash bags."

Gerald Henderson, President of Rattle Rock 4WD Club, stated that his club had twenty members in attendance. They covered the Upper 2 trail and School Bus hill (trail 12). The most interesting item they recovered was a freezer - what was it doing way out there in the woods?

In addition, members from all recreation groups cleaned up many more miles on the trails and roads along the Tellico River and the North River in Tennessee. Volunteers picked up the trash and left the full bags along the road side, to be picked up by Forest Service personnel who gave up their weekend time to help this worthwhile cause.

http://sfwda.com/trails/tellico/cleanup20060311/pics/p3110059.jpg

http://sfwda.com/trails/tellico/cleanup20060311/pics/108-0866_img.jpg

[GSW]

Nice pics BRR. Maybe we should start a thread to showcase photos of cleanup efforts, trail maintenance work, bridges built or under construction, sediment control measures and fishermen trashing the riparian areas. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have our own photos to counter with.

[Blue Ridge Runner]

Nice pics BRR. Maybe we should start a thread to showcase photos of cleanup efforts, trail maintenance work, bridges built or under construction, sediment control measures and fishermen trashing the riparian areas. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have our own photos to counter with.

I did not take them. They are on SFWDA's webpage. They have done a great job documenting their efforts. As usual they get no media publicity for their efforts though. :mad3:

We should ALL document our cleanup efforts in order to protect our interests.

[Tommy70K5]

Go to that paper and email her that. I have already emailed and ask if she would print an article if we sent her some pics and work being done at tellico, but she has not responded yet. "Ihne, Susan" SIHNE@ashevill.gannett.com is her email

[Blue Ridge Runner]

My letter:

SFWD's place in the community

Hello, I thought you might want to read the other side of this story on the law suit between SELC and NFS. (supported by SFWDA)


Take a look at this:

http://sfwda.com/trails/tellico/cleanup20060311/index.html

I believe that the Citizen Times owes this to the people that read the newspaper and expect to see the other side of the story.


Thanks for your time.


I am curious to see if I get a response. :shaking:

[Tommy70K5]

been 2 or 3 days and I have not seen a repsonse...she responded pretty quick when I said they had printed false info though!

[Blue Ridge Runner]

Typical liberal enviornatzi. :mad3:

[GSW]

Susan Ihne, executive editor
Asheville Citizen-Times
14 O. Henry Ave., Asheville, NC 28802
828-232-5954
sihne@CITIZEN-TIMES.com"



This lady had an editorial comment in yesterday's (Sunday) paper regarding the difference between effective complaints to the paper (voicemail, emails etc) and those that are dismissed as ranting. Don't know if she's referring specifically to any of our peeps or not.

Just a heads up though. When corresponding on this issue with elected officials, government agencies, the media or special interest groups, always triple check your grammar/spelling and make sure that you calmly and effectively express your point. They absolutely WANT to stereotype us as uneducated louts with anger issues, don't give them any ammo to that end.

Also, any peeps from Minnesota that might read this, this lady recently moved here from MN. Maybe a letter from there on this issue might spark a little personal interest on her part to follow-up with the other side of the story.

[Bigcountry]

What we need to do is email both editors with fact based items and not threats. Then respond LOUDLY to the city and county official with emails, phone calls and letters telling them that we will not support there city or any business in that county or city if this is what they will use to tell the people completely wrong information. This will help us more than anything. Lets attack them the way they do us, you always attack those who support them in business because it means money to them and that sways their opinion more than anything. Lawyers and liberals alike do not like loosing their money so lets hit them where it hurts and not support any company or anyone that is any website that supports these groups.
Lets do it Pirate Style and get all the websites support them and send them all emails and the companies that support them on this issues. Someone with a little more knowledge write us a formal letter for us to copy and past to send to them.
Here is the link to there sponsors: http://www.tu.org/site/pp.asp?c=7dJEKTNuFmG&b=278607

[Blue Ridge Runner]

Keep in mind that the newspaper and the liberals are located in Asheville not Murphy. Asheville is a carbon copy of San Fran Freeko. The SELC has offices in Chapel Hill and Asheville. Cherokee County, NC would take the financial hit not Asheville.

Here is a list of the lawyers and board members that represent them. If your lawyer is affiliated with these people is on this list I suggest you FIRE THEM! That goes for the Board Members also. Don't do business with the enemy.

http://www.southernenvironment.org/about/board.htm

http://southernenvironment.org/about/staff.htm

[justscoutin]

Has anyone mailed her a copy of the map of the tellico trails? or specifically a link to the map of them from the forestry website? I "wish" there were hundreds of trails we could ride on there. I'm thinking we need to start writing articles in our local newspapers covering all the cleanup and renovation efforts, to get a positive note going in the general public eye.

[JeeponRock]

Here is what I submitted to the comments area on this story:

The reporter knows that the claim of "hundreds of trails" is not defensible, but it fits with her agenda. Basically, she is just parroting what one party to the lawsuit is claiming, even though she knows that that they cannot back it up.

Let's look at it for a moment. For there to be "hundreds of trails" there would have to be at least 200. There are twelve legal trails within the OHV area, so there would have to be at least 16 illegal trails for each legal trail. It is simply absurd. When confronted, she went back to the same source, and they said the same thing, so it must be fact.

If that is the case, then it must also be fact that the problem is being blown out of proportion, because that is what Roth said... and he is a past President of the SFWDA. I'm sure that if the reporter called him, he would re-iterate what he said previously.

The lawsuit will be defeated, and SELC already knows it. They know that they are using misleading information, such as the fish counts to put out misrepresent the truth. Altering the methodology to include fewer fish does not mean there is a decline in the populations.

The sad part is that the SFWDA and the USFS will spend tens of thousands of dollars fighting this frivolous lawsuit. That is money that could be better spent increasing the miles of trails in this and other areas in the region, to spread the OHV usage out... thus minimizing damage caused because groups like this have been working hard to concentrate OHV usage in just a few areas.

It is also sad that when the lawsuit is shown to be frivolous and unfounded, this paper and this reporter will remain silent about the result... because it doesn't fit with their agenda.

Too bad that these folks forgot that "Journalists" were supposed to be objective and verify facts before printing stories.

I'll also be emailing it to the reporter.

[Tim84K10]

Email sent. I absolutely loved Tellico and I hope to one day see it again.

[playtimeYJ]

That pic has to be 3 years old.. that hole was filled in ... I usually dont post on here ,I do more reading than anything but this I must speak out against... I've been going to tellico for 9 years now every april.. everything I own has roots to Tellico weather it be my jeep,trailer or tow rig that place had an inflence on it.. I will be pissed if we lose Tellico.... I just lost Paragon as my home park.. Please let us know if there is anything we can do.. Bill

[Mrese]

I did not take them. They are on SFWDA's webpage. They have done a great job documenting their efforts. As usual they get no media publicity for their efforts though. :mad3:

We should ALL document our cleanup efforts in order to protect our interests.

I am coming into this late but, has anyone sent this information or invited the local media to cover this.
We need to let the local media know before we do this kind of work as well as after.
We as a group have many resources, look with in the group for quality letter writers and legal help to get the proper word out and what can be done. Send all this information to the elected officials invite them out.
The letters sent asking for a correction was great, nice work
Thanks Rob for the histoory

[Shagnaz2]

The article has since been taken down.

[mudlite]

Does anyone have any pictures of the Bridge on trail #5 water crossing?