Conservation: Loggers, Former Mayors, & Robo Trout

Folks are up in arms over the U.S. Forest Service's plan to allow logging of a portion of the Pisgah National Forest that lies about one mile south of the North Carolina resort town of Blowing Rock. The Blowing Rock Town Council passed a resolution opposing the plan which would allow logging within "eyeshot" of some of the town's plush resort homes and businesses.

"I absolutely oppose it because of several issues,Blowing Rock resident Cullie Tarleton, currently a candidate for N.C. State House, said. One of those is the potential negative impact on tourism. If you stand at The Blowing Rock, you look directly down into that area."(Link)

Meanwhile, over mountainsians in Tennessee, a drive is underway to save approximately 10,000 acres from development in the Rocky Fork area which lies in Unicoi and Greene counties.
New Forestry owns the land and leases it to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and logging companies. But two weeks ago, then-Unicoi County Mayor Larry Rose issued a news release that said a private investment group had reached an agreement to buy the property. (Link)

In other conservation news folks who fish Moosehead Lake in Maine have been advised not to be alarmed if the trout they catch have antennae protruding from their bellies. No the fish are not some alien invasive species beamed down to probe the native fish, but rather they are "Robo-Trout" released by; "the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife as part of an effort to track them and maintain the right mix of fish." (Link)