CFAZ
Active Member
Hey Guys. New member here but long time reader. Love to read here for the info but never join or post as I am not much of an internet or social media person. But thought this subject would be of interest to many here so am breaking my self imposed exile for just this topic and thread only.
A few weeks ago was doing some work on my deer huntin patch (we call it the Champ Ferguson Autonomous Zone) up on the plateau and heard on the radio about some White County hunters expressing their concerns about clearcutting at Bridgestone WMA. I had been there this year and knew they were cutting out some of the pines for quail habitat, but it turns out much of the hardwood is slated to go too, which in my opinion will just about destroy the deer hunting there. So after doing some research I found that State Representive Sherrell was involved in trying to set up a meeting with the TWRA to discuss it. So I sent him an email, along with all the other area reps, but so far have only heard back from Senator Mark Pody who let me know he is looking into it. This is a great hunting area and I thought the guys here should know whats going on before they just show up one day to hunt and find your huntin spot is now just broomsedge and kudzu.
Sorry to be such a downer with my first post but I figure there are guys here that are not going to be really happy if they knew this being planned. I use the area several times a year and I know I wasn't when I heard about it.
Will try to post the pertinent links but I am new to this so it might take me a few tries.
Link to news radio bit.
newstalk941.com
Link to Rep Sherrells FB regarding meeting (note the video no longer exists)
www.facebook.com
Here is the text of the email I sent.
We are writing to express our concerns regarding the TWRA's plan to clearcut a huge swath of mature hardwood forest at the Bridgestone Firestone WMA in an attempt to expand the quail habitat there. We first heard of this on the radio last week while visiting our property in Van Buren County, then saw on Facebook where you were involved in addressing your local constituents concerns in this regard. Although we do not reside in your district my wife and I are frequent users of this property for hiking, and as a regular Sportsman License holder I sometimes hunt there as well. We would like to chime in with our opposition to this project.
We were hiking at Bridgestone this spring and were shocked at the "war zone " appearance of the property just south of the Virgin Falls trailhead. All of what was once a nice pine forest had been clearcut, leaving just open broomsedge and logging slag, and it was already starting to erode. We also noticed that there had been proscribed burning done in the hardwood sections, and with apparently no controls to keep it out of the hollows and into the fragile Hemlock forested areas. As you may be aware, Hemlock forests nationwide are dying off and may be going the way of the American Chestnut due to the wooly adelgid. Then on top of that we now hear that a thousand of acres of mature hardwood is planned for clearcut as well.
Bridgestone WMA is one of the few areas in middle tennessee where outdoors folks can enjoy the experience of "big woods" hiking and hunting. In our opinion it would be practically criminal to have much of it all cut down, especially since the plan isn't to restore it but rather to turn it into "pine savannah" for "quail habitat". As I understand the TWRAs quail plan, they are essentially attempting to turn lands intended for public hunting into regional "quail sanctuaries", with a target population of 1 quail per 4 acres, with only limited hunting if any until the target populations are reached.. Or to put it another way, a 1000 acre hardwood forest that can support maybe a hundred deer and turkeys, and thousands of squirrels, will be destroyed in the future hope that maybe 250 quail will someday live there. Further, what makes this seem even more nonsensical is that Bridgestone WMA already has thousands of acres of quail habitat, and practically no quail. There is a roughly 700 acre open field area around the maintenance shops that only offers limited hunting. Then there are several thousand acres of pine planation and scrub fields to the south of the river and Scotts Gulf; ideal quail habitat, but again very few quail. Then there are the open fields to the west in the Big Bottom area along the Caney Fork, but that area seems mainly to be managed as open pasture for wild hogs to root in. In other words, Bridgestone already has lots of quail habitat, but due to TWRA mismanagement, there are likely more wild hogs than quail. We see no reason whatsoever for the TWRA to intentionally destroy these perfectly good hardwood forests in a futile attempt to reestablish a sanctuary for a species in numbers that are just not viable in todays environment of exploding coyote and bobcat and hawk/owl populations that will always outnumber the quail themselves, especially on what is intended to be hunting land for the use of and paid for by hunters.
A few weeks ago was doing some work on my deer huntin patch (we call it the Champ Ferguson Autonomous Zone) up on the plateau and heard on the radio about some White County hunters expressing their concerns about clearcutting at Bridgestone WMA. I had been there this year and knew they were cutting out some of the pines for quail habitat, but it turns out much of the hardwood is slated to go too, which in my opinion will just about destroy the deer hunting there. So after doing some research I found that State Representive Sherrell was involved in trying to set up a meeting with the TWRA to discuss it. So I sent him an email, along with all the other area reps, but so far have only heard back from Senator Mark Pody who let me know he is looking into it. This is a great hunting area and I thought the guys here should know whats going on before they just show up one day to hunt and find your huntin spot is now just broomsedge and kudzu.
Sorry to be such a downer with my first post but I figure there are guys here that are not going to be really happy if they knew this being planned. I use the area several times a year and I know I wasn't when I heard about it.
Will try to post the pertinent links but I am new to this so it might take me a few tries.
Link to news radio bit.
White Co Hunters Against TWRA Clear Cutting Of Bridgestone Wild Area
Some White County residents disagree with TWRA's plan to clear cut a portion of the Bridgestone-Fire...
newstalk941.com
Link to Rep Sherrells FB regarding meeting (note the video no longer exists)
State Representative Paul Sherrell | Nashville TN
State Representative Paul Sherrell, Nashville, Tennessee. 15,506 likes · 3 talking about this. Elected Official
www.facebook.com
Here is the text of the email I sent.
We are writing to express our concerns regarding the TWRA's plan to clearcut a huge swath of mature hardwood forest at the Bridgestone Firestone WMA in an attempt to expand the quail habitat there. We first heard of this on the radio last week while visiting our property in Van Buren County, then saw on Facebook where you were involved in addressing your local constituents concerns in this regard. Although we do not reside in your district my wife and I are frequent users of this property for hiking, and as a regular Sportsman License holder I sometimes hunt there as well. We would like to chime in with our opposition to this project.
We were hiking at Bridgestone this spring and were shocked at the "war zone " appearance of the property just south of the Virgin Falls trailhead. All of what was once a nice pine forest had been clearcut, leaving just open broomsedge and logging slag, and it was already starting to erode. We also noticed that there had been proscribed burning done in the hardwood sections, and with apparently no controls to keep it out of the hollows and into the fragile Hemlock forested areas. As you may be aware, Hemlock forests nationwide are dying off and may be going the way of the American Chestnut due to the wooly adelgid. Then on top of that we now hear that a thousand of acres of mature hardwood is planned for clearcut as well.
Bridgestone WMA is one of the few areas in middle tennessee where outdoors folks can enjoy the experience of "big woods" hiking and hunting. In our opinion it would be practically criminal to have much of it all cut down, especially since the plan isn't to restore it but rather to turn it into "pine savannah" for "quail habitat". As I understand the TWRAs quail plan, they are essentially attempting to turn lands intended for public hunting into regional "quail sanctuaries", with a target population of 1 quail per 4 acres, with only limited hunting if any until the target populations are reached.. Or to put it another way, a 1000 acre hardwood forest that can support maybe a hundred deer and turkeys, and thousands of squirrels, will be destroyed in the future hope that maybe 250 quail will someday live there. Further, what makes this seem even more nonsensical is that Bridgestone WMA already has thousands of acres of quail habitat, and practically no quail. There is a roughly 700 acre open field area around the maintenance shops that only offers limited hunting. Then there are several thousand acres of pine planation and scrub fields to the south of the river and Scotts Gulf; ideal quail habitat, but again very few quail. Then there are the open fields to the west in the Big Bottom area along the Caney Fork, but that area seems mainly to be managed as open pasture for wild hogs to root in. In other words, Bridgestone already has lots of quail habitat, but due to TWRA mismanagement, there are likely more wild hogs than quail. We see no reason whatsoever for the TWRA to intentionally destroy these perfectly good hardwood forests in a futile attempt to reestablish a sanctuary for a species in numbers that are just not viable in todays environment of exploding coyote and bobcat and hawk/owl populations that will always outnumber the quail themselves, especially on what is intended to be hunting land for the use of and paid for by hunters.
