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TNC Protecting Smoky Mountains Site

Property totals 10,000 acres 

Knoxville, Tenn—10 May 2004—Under a historic agreement with Alcoa Power Generating Inc., The Nature Conservancy’s Tennessee Chapter will protect 10,000 acres in the Great Smoky Mountains.

The proposed land protection is part of a settlement agreement developed to allow Alcoa to continue its hydropower activities at four dams in Tennessee and North Carolina. The land protection and other terms of the settlement will become final once accepted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Nature Conservancy was one of 11 private and government organizations that signed this historic agreement.

"The Smoky Mountains represent the heart of what is rare and beautiful in our state. Having the opportunity to help protect a part of it is an incredible opportunity for The Nature Conservancy," said Scott Davis, the Tennessee Chapter’s state director.

The 10,000 acres that The Nature Conservancy will help protect adjoin the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and two designated Wilderness Areas -- Citico and Joyce Kilmer. The two dams owned by Alcoa in Tennessee are the Calderwood and Chilhowee.

"This is one of the most vast and undisturbed ‘wilderness’ regions in the Eastern United States, and the only such area in the Southern Appalachians. We will also be able to protect the entire Tallassee Creek watershed, perhaps the only remaining unprotected high-elevation, low-gradient stream in the region," said Paul Trianosky, Director of East Tennessee’s Conservation Programs.

As part of the agreement, The Nature Conservancy will receive:

• Permanent conservation easement and an immediate option to purchase 5,700 acres;
• Term conservation easement and a future option to purchase an additional 4,000 acres and
• 200-foot protective buffer easement along shorelines totaling 180 acres.

The conservation easements will be acquired within one year and the associated fee lands can be purchased within three years. The remaining future option will apply if any of the remaining lands are ever sold. The Nature Conservancy will purchase the property and transfer the lands to the appropriate government agencies once each acquisition is complete. The lands will continue to benefit the public as Wildlife Management Areas through an agreement with TWRA.

Other terms include:

• In-stream flows to ensure the health of cold water fisheries;
• Timing of dam releases to mimic natural peak flows and
• $100,000 per year to be spent on biological inventories and management needs that will be jointly managed by key signatories to the agreement, including The Nature Conservancy.

The relicensing will not be finalized by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission until later this year.

The following groups have also signed the agreement with Alcoa:

National Park Service

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Bureau of Indian Affairs

U.S. Forest Service

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

National Parks Conservation Association

Tennessee Clean Water Network

American Rivers

The 10,000 acres being protected by The Nature Conservancy contain 21 rare, threatened or endangered species. A wide range of amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and plants make their home here including:

American bald eagle

Peregrine falcon

Bristle fern

Chalk maple

Smoky dace

Hellbender

Junaluska salamander.

For more information on The Nature Conservancy’s work in Tennessee or around the world, visit the Web at nature.org/Tennessee.

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