First a little about me I grew up in the 70's, squirrel, bird, and occasionally deer hunting. I got into dirtbiking in 78 and it became my life until I got lyme disease turkey hunting in 2012. In 2010 my uncle died of cancer. He was my father figure and mentor who taught me the ways of the outdoorsman. I deeply regret not hunting with him more but I can't go back and change that now. So while I occasionally take a 2 wheeled adventure, I mostly find myself on foot in the woods now days. I am a deer hunter first and foremost. However, I respect all forms of hunting and partake in some of them on occasion. When you take a bird dog afield, it's something everyone should experience. It's like taking your kid hunting except they already know what to do and are giddy when they see that orange collar in your hand.
I just watched the commission meeting on the subject. I've also read the 5 year plan. My take is this:
1) much of these areas on the plateau were once grasslands and early forest where the understory supplied food and cover for all wildlife, including deer and turkey. The thick canopy forests that are there today offer little in the way of food after the acorns are gone. I've had trail cam pictures of deer eating tree bark in the dead of winter. This is why deer numbers are lower where the land is mostly old forest with little to no fields or agriculture. Like west TN has more farming, fields, agriculture, deer, and bigger deer.
We travel to Eglin AFB every Feb for a ml deer hunt. The landscape is much the same as what is planned for this project except in TN there will be more grasses rather than coastal ground cover. Each area is burned every 5 years. If you think the deer are malnourished at Eglin, think again. Every deer I've killed there had more than 1/2" of fat on its back. The pic below is on Eglin. Some areas are more sparcely populated with pines. BTW, the trees a few feet tall with brown leaves are scrub oaks and yes, they produce acorns.
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2) in CFAZ's post above, I'll quote
""""Good video, the deceptiveness is stunning if you have been following what is going on there. Rep Sherrell gets up about the 9 minute mark then the presentation continues with the local guy calling BS on them about the 51 minute mark. Whether you agree with the cut or not, you should all be outraged at the deceptive way they are going about it.""""
Rep Sherrell basically diplomatically proposed not to use the "farm" area. He did a good job.
The local guy, in my opinion, failed to call BS on the commission because there is no BS to be called out. The agency has a solid plan for this restoration project, which that BTW, only includes 1/10th of the wma. When it's all said and done, every game animal will benefit from this project. Basically, he and a group of people do not want that specific area cut period. I suspect it is because of easy access from the road for deer hunting. He even attacked quail and other bird hunters by mentioning that they should have to pay more to hunt wma's. On one hand, they don't want hikers in there but still use the "this project will destroy hiking trails" argument. Just because the trees are cut, what's to stop anyone from using the trails? Sure. I feel all users should contribute to use wma's but that is not today's subject. The way I see it, I purchase a sportsman license every year which is all-inclusive. I pay my fair share. He did a very poor job of presenting his groups proposal and grievances. There is nothing deceptive about this project. Lack of knowledge and selfishness are the only points he displayed before the commission.
Based on your post I take it you neither hunt nor hike the area in question. So i shall enlighten you.
Bridgestone WMA is basically Scotts Gulf, with a flat tableland on either side. Scotts Gulf is the headwaters of the Upper Caney Fork River, with then feeds into Great Falls Lake, then Center Hill. The upper Caney is a primo Musky and spotted bass fishery. The Musky are native to the area (pioneers called them jackfish) - just like the walleye and smallmouth throughout the Upper Cumberland. They are ice age relics that have managed to hang on this far south due to the cold clear spring fed waters that come off the plateau and feed the Caney, Collins, and Calfkiller rivers, Cane Creek, etc...
Part and parcel of that ice age relic community is the Canadian Hemlock forests and Rhodendon thickets that are able to thrive at that relatively low elevation and southern latitude because of the unique microclimate created in Scotts Gulf. While the tableland is around 2000 ft elevation, Scotts Gulf is a giant canyon, about 1000 feet deep and maybe a mile across. The sides of the gulf are covered un mixed hardwood, mostly steep as heck, with the Hemlock community forests in the bottom,. When they tell you most of the land is being left in hardwood they are referring to Scotts Gulf. There are only 2 road entrances to the gulf from the North - Scotts Gulf road is the only one continuously open, and Ambers Den Road is gated and locked most of the year. If they cut all the hardwood off the tableland the only ground left to hunt big woods will be the Gulf itself, which in many places would be like trying to hunt the sides of the Grand Canyon. And with only 1 or 2 road access points. You cannot get down by trail due to the bluff line, The Virgin Falls trail follows the Laurel Creek hollow down, but that is protected territory and a 4mile steep hike in before you would hit the river bottom anyway.
The 1000 acre area marked for cutting is part of the hardwood plateau, and it is a very nice looking forest. It also contains several hollows feeding the gulf, and in those hollows are the Hemlock and Rhodendron forests. This area is accessed by the Upper and Lower Polly Branch Falls trails, as well as the Yellow Bluff trail, This is part of the 20 mile trails that will be affected by the clearcut, that the TWRA guys just did a low down yankee liar thing when said no trails would be affected. One reason the Hemlocks are able to survive at that elevation in the Polly Falls area is the Northeast aspect, limiting sunlight when combined with the existing hardwood forest. If you know anything about Hemlock/Rhodendron, esp at that relative low altitude, you will note they create their own self sustaining micro climate, making it noticably cooler and moister under their canopy, which allows them to regenerate themselves, If you strip out the surrounding hardwood, that fragile community balance that has existed since the last ice age will be stripped away, and its unlikely they will sustain themselves.
Although they state they will leave a hardwood boundary around the riparian areas, from what I have seen already it is not big enough to sustain the Hemlocks, Then throw in the fact that they will be doing prescribed burns to maintain the savannah, which of course will get down into the riparian areas, and thats the end of those communities. Then throw in the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid problems, and it basically game over for these communities that have existed since the ice age.
Nobody has to take my word for any of this. Just drive past the Virgin Falls trailhead, stop at the Yellow Bluff trailhead and walk to the overlook. You will see all the stripped ground plus the prescribed burn in the hardwoods. From the overlook walk downhill another 100 yds and there is a small creek crossing, with a Hemlock community on either side. You will see both burned Hemlocks plus the telltale white spots on the Hemlock branches that indicates a wooly adelgid infestation. Those areas will die off, open up, Ailanthus will sprout up all over (that invasive crap you see all over, variously called Tree of Heaven, Ghetto Palm, etc depends on where you live)
While you may have a lot of confidence in TWRA biologists and foresters I simply do not based on my experience, both from hiking all through the area and from experiences on my own land. They can sound pretty convincing if you don't know any better, but most of what they do is actually agenda driven, and the needs of hunters are not necessarily part of that agenda. Maybe 20 years ago I would have confidence in the gov,org types, but after 50 plus years of watching them do the layers of retardation thing time and again, one just doubts everything they say. (like the guy trying to convince everyone a 2000 acre clearcut was only 320 acres, lying abut the trails, and even had a fake map to back himself up)
Essentially I consider the TWRA to be like a Homeowners Association for wildlife. The people that want to get involved always do so for power, money, influence, etc... while the people that you would actually want involved don't value those things so they never get involved.
One more thing. To me this isn't about my hunting territory. I am fortunate in that I have deer in my back yard every morning and evening munching my garden or landscaping, I can stick one anytime I want, drag it into my garage, string it up, skin and butcher it, and keep the freezer full. But that is harvesting not hunting. I am also fortunate in that I have my own place to do my traditional deer hunting too. I could never hunt or hike Bridgestone again and our lifestyle would be unnaffected. This is actually about all those folks who don't have any big woods to hunt in, and get away from all the crowds. Or those folks that rarely get to experience the temperature difference walking through a Rhodendron thicket under a Hemlock canopy on a warm summer day. And of course maintaining the quality and composition of waters coming off the plateau and feeding the headwaters streams, that despite what the HOA is telling you, have been unchanged since the last ice age.
