Displaying items by tag: twra hardwood forest cutting
Tennessee Lookout: TWRA delays clearcut in Cumberlands as tourism official files suit
Marvin Bullock, president of the Sparta-White County Chamber of Commerce, opposes deforestation efforts in the Bridgestone-Firestone Centennial Wilderness Area to create quail habitat. John Partipillo/Courtesy of Tennessee Lookout
Oak Ridge Rep. John Ragan joins bipartisan pushback against state plans to raze forest for quail habitat
This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
SPARTA — For decades, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has kept the profits from the sale of timber and other natural resources on publicly owned lands, folding the payments from logging companies into the agency’s annual operating budget.
A bipartisan bill introduced in the Tennessee Legislature this week seeks to bring that practice to an end. The measure, introduced by Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, and Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, would require TWRA officials to transfer all proceeds from the sale of the state’s natural resources into Tennessee’s general fund — the process typically followed by other Tennessee agencies that generate income.
- twra clearcut
- twra hardwood forest cutting
- twra timber cut
- tennessee lookout
- sparta, tennessee
- centennial
- tennessee wilderness area
- bridgeton centennial wilderness area
- cumberland mountains clearcut
- lawsuit against clearcut
- tennessee tourism
- rep john ragan
- oak ridge representative
- tennessee quail habitat
- marvin bullock, president of the spartawhite county chamber of commerce
Tennessee Lookout: Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency reportedly plans to raze mature hardwood forest
Mike O’Neal, a longtime hunter, surveys an expanse of the Bridgestone Firestone Centennial Wilderness Area in Middle Tennessee where clearcutting of public hardwood forest is planned to create quail habitat. John Partipilo/Courtesy of Tennessee Lookout
The plan to clear forest for quail habitat is raising the ire of hunters and hikers, as well as a bipartisan group of state lawmakers
This story was originally published by the nonprofit Tennessee Lookout and is shared (with much appreciation) via Creative Commons License.
It’s a pretty bird, easily recognizable by dark stripes on rust colored feathers and a distinct two-syllable chirp that announces its name: “bob” (the high note) then “white” at a lower pitch — also known as the northern bobwhite, a species of quail.
The otherwise unassuming bird is now at the center of a fight over public lands in White County, Tennessee, pitting the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency against an unlikely coalition of hikers, hunters, cavers, local business leaders and state lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle.