Karen Chávez

kchavez@citizen-times.com

Will fracking come to North Carolina's national forests?

Well, not right now. But that's a possibility.

During a public Forest Service meeting Thursday to discuss wildlife and habitat and wild and scenic rivers, some folks wanted to talk about fracking – a method of extracting oil and gas by injecting high-pressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel and chemicals into rock.

The Pisgah and Nantahala National Forest Management Plan Revision meeting yesterday, Thursday, July 10, was set to discuss wildlife habitat and areas of the forest could be restored for early successional habitat, to discuss river segments suitable for designation as Wild and Scenic Rivers, and to discuss ecosystem integrity.

More than 100 people attended, said spokesman Stevin Westcott.

"We're not going to make any decisions regarding oil and gas leasing in the revised plan, but at the same time, there will be standards of land management practices that will be brought forth during the plan," he said.

"Revision of the management plan focuses on management practices, not on specific budgets or allocations of budgets."

While mineral extraction is a practice allowed on parts of the national forests, Westcott said if there are new areas identified in the revised plan as wilderness areas, for example, obviously fracking would not be allowed in those areas.

The potential for oil and gas exploration will be identified in the plan revision process in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management. In 2008, the BLM did a 10-year forecast that did not predict any oil and gas wells in Western North Carolina, he said.

"As far as I know, no veins of oil and gas have been identified. I understand people's concerns. But it doesn't look like the potential is there."

Westcott said most of the people who attended the public meeting were concerned about wildlife habitat, and creating more areas of early successional, or young forest, to enhance habitat for wildlife, specifically for ruffed grouse, white-tailed deer, elk, and songbirds; providing a mix of age classes of trees; increasing the amount of open forest habitats and protecting interior forest habitats and older forest conditions.

Earlier this year, the N.C. state legislature approved a bill lifting a moratorium on fracking in North Carolina, which was signed by Gov. Pat McCrory.

State environmental officials plan to test for the presence of significant natural gas deposits in seven Western North Carolina counties.

Westcott said comments, on any topic of activity on the national forests, is encouraged. More public meetings on the plan revision will be held in October.

For more information, visit the Forest Plan revision site: www.fs.usda.gov/detail/nfsnc/home/?cid=stelprdb5397660





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