Conserving the Cumberland Plateau
Spanning portions of five southeastern states and covering an area the size of Connecticut, the Cumberland Plateau is one of the most extensive, diverse, and ecologically important forest ecosystems on the planet. The Plateau has the highest concentration of endangered species in North America, world-class aquatic biodiversity, and hundreds of caves where new species are still being discovered. Anchored by federal and state-owned lands, the Cumberland Plateau harbors the largest expanse of unfragmented, privately owned forestland in the South. Despite its national and global significance, however, the Plateau is the largest American landscape that lacks a comprehensive conservation strategy-and second home development, mining, and unsustainable forestry practices are posing significant threats to this extraordinary region.
©Bill Lea
SELC is working on several fronts to ensure long-term protection for this unique landscape:
Saving critical natural resources : To address the threats posed by mining, SELC is coordinating with conservation groups to compel state and federal agencies to dramatically limit mountaintop removal and other surface coal mining in the New River watershed, which sits on the Cumberland Plateau.
Seeking Federal Funding for Key Land Protection Deals: While most of the forested land on the Northern Cumberland Plateau is privately owned, there are several parcels of state and federally protected lands. Although these publicly owned lands provide some degree of protection for wildlife, the private lands adjacent to them are not subject to the same laws and policies and, therefore, these small public inholdings provide only marginally beneficial wildlife habitat. SELC is addressing this problem by pressing for increased appropriations for the Forest Legacy Program, a federally funded initiative that enables states to acquire privately owned forestland from willing sellers so that these forests can be added to the public land base, or to place conservation easements on these lands. Forest Legacy dollars were recently used to link two disjoint portions of Pickett State Park on the Northern Plateau in Tennessee, and to acquire the Walls of Jericho on the Southern Plateau.
Building a Conservation Infrastructure: SELC has helped form the Alliance for the Cumberlands -- a unique coalition of groups that includes conservation groups, land trusts, and federal and state agencies working to preserve the unique natural and cultural resources of the Plateau. The Alliance is on track to become a major force behind protection of the region.
Developing a Protection Strategy: SELC is collaborating with The Nature Conservancy to develop a comprehensive protection strategy for the privately owned forests of the Cumberland Plateau. Our partnership is highly effective because SELC's legal and policy expertise is the practical mechanism needed to attain the ecological goals that TNC is adept in defining. Among our principle objectives is determining how landowner assistance funding through the federal Farm Bill could be used to promote conservation of privately owned forests on the Northern Cumberland Plateau.
