The Unprotected Wildlands of the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests In all six of the national forests in the Southern Appalachians there remain, sometimes against all the odds, pockets of forested land that are largely wild and without roads. Some of these places are permanently protected within the National Wilderness Preservation System. Others are along protected Wild and Scenic Rivers corridors and still others enjoy some safety because they fall within management categories now considered unsuitable for road building and logging. But many important tracts are not so protected and thus remain at risk to future timber harvests. These are the subject of this website -- North Carolina's Mountain Treasures. These pages focus on the unprotected wild lands of the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests. Read more... Wildland Profiles Nantahala National Forest Conservation Area Pisgah National Forest Conservation Area Unicoi Mountains Nantahala Mountains Highlands Area Balsam Mountains Black Mountains Linville/ Grandfather Mountain Unaka Mountains Maps and descriptions are presented for each area. Click any map to continue. Why Protect Wild Areas? The Wilderness Society and its partners have identified 35 areas in these two forests that deserve protection and urgently need it. These areas contribute much to the health and viability of the globally significant Southern Appalachian ecosystem. This website details each area, describing important wilderness, wildlife, scenic and recreational values and resources. Maps accompany each description. These areas comprise some of the wildest and least roaded lands in western North Carolina. Read more... The current status for the areas we focus on ranges from Wilderness Study Areas, which are fully protected but only in the short term, to some areas in which nearly every acre is within a management status that allows for logging and the road-building that so commonly attends it. Read more... Search This Site powered by FreeFind Clearly, then, some areas are better protected than others. But there is some level of uncertainty about permanent protection even for Wilderness Study Areas -- areas found to be suitable for wilderness, recommended for designation by the Congress and meant to be managed as wilderness until the Congress decides. Certainly, there are other areas in this part of the state that are, by any reckoning, important natural areas-places that are, and deserve to be, mountain treasures. Roan Mountain is a prime example. But we have chosen to focus on areas that lack long-term protection and thus remain at risk. Read more...

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