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USFS Regional Forester Visits LBL, Talks Pisgah 'Pause'

landbetweenthelakes.us

  The United States Forest Service’s southern region forester stopped by Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area Tuesday, where he said the forest service’s controversial Pisgah Bay Project has been temporarily shelved - not fully scrapped.

Tony Tooke participated in a meet-and-greet with local leaders, members of the nonprofit Friends of Land Between the Lakes and college students at Kenlake State Resort Park's Cherokee Park meeting room.

Earlier this month, LBL officials announced the Pisgah Bay Project - aimed at improving forest health through controlled burns and logging - was cancelled as proposed. Tooke says the forest service now wants more public input before it moves forward on some land management projects like Pisgah Bay.

“We want to make sure that we’re working closely with the public and the staff here has been doing that and that’s what we’ll continue to do, but we’ll take a little bit of a pause on some of these projects,” Tooke said.

Credit Southern Regional Partnership for Planning and Sustainability/USDA Forest Service
USDA Forest Service regional forester Tony Tooke

Tooke is new to the job, but has been with the Forest Service in Washington D.C. for the last decade, and with the agency in some capacity since he was 18. The region he oversees covers 13 southern states plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tooke is responsible for 14 national forests, covering 13.3 million acres.

Tooke said gatherings like Tuesdays meet-and-greet are an opportunity to connect with not only local forest service employees, but also LBL's many partners and volunteers.

"We're very thankful for all of our partners and volunteers," Tooke said. "It's woven into our fabric about who we are in the Forest Service now, working in partnership and we have just hundreds upon hundred of volunteers. We just couldn't deliver our mission on the ground without them."

John Null is the host and creator of Left of the Dial. From 2013-2016, he also served as a reporter in the WKMS newsroom.
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