|
 As
Louis L'Amour put it, "The cities are for money but the high-up hills are
purely for the soul." Nowhere may this be truer than in the Cumberland
Plateau, a series of rivers, valleys, hills, mountains, coves, and gorges which
stretch from eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia and Virginia through
eastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia to the northern stretches of
Alabama. In the North it is known as the Alleghany Plateau and both are part of
the larger Appalachian Mountains, thanks to local custom (as well as the
presence of the Cumberland River), this region has the unique title of
Cumberland Plateau. The region has long been known for its preserved beauty,
winding between settled areas as its rivers and hills proceed south in an
unceasing flow which has been until recently largely left alone by the hand of
man. (The pic above reflects the natural beauty of the Cumberland Plateau captured amidst flowing water and beautiful trees.)
Historical
Significance
The
Cumberland Plateau was named for William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, and son
of Britain's George II. Ironically this duke was renowned in Britain for mercilessly
driving back Scots into their native land, which then resulted in many leaving
for the colonies and often settling in and around the Appalachian Mountains
including the Cumberland Plateau. English and German settlers would often
follow them and makeup part of the small, self-reliant mountain communities,
many of which survive to this day.
Settlers
and their descendents were early to record the intrinsic beauty of the area in
all of its parts. The region has surely seen its share of tragedies including
as one of the starting places of the infamous "Trail of Tears" for
Cherokee Native Americans, a hotly and bloodily contested area during the Civil
War, and then as a wellspring for companies seeking natural resources and cheap
places to manufacture within the post-bellum south. Through all of these events
the plateau and its surrounding areas remained a scenic backdrop to the often
chaotic expansion of humanity and were often recognized as a beautiful-if not
spiritual-land which was to be preserved. Indeed, today within the plateau
there are a national park, twenty-one state parks, a national forest, a
national river and recreation area, eighteen state natural areas, numerous
state forests and recreation sites and wildlife management areas, two nationally
designated wilderness areas, a national wild and scenic river, six state wild
and scenic rivers, four national natural landmarks, a national monument, and
part of a national military park. Lists of this sort are nearly unheard of in
areas of the United States which have been settled for the amount of time that
the plateau has been and speak to its enduring beauty and power as an
environmental gem that its locals, and citizens from allover this country as
well as the world, should not easily let go to urban development and industrial
use.
Threats
To the Plateau
As
national and state authorities have realized the plateau serves as the South's
most ecologically diverse region and has also been designated a U.S. BioGem by
the Nature Conservancy and NRDC for this very reason. Tree species such as
Yellow Poplar, Beech, Black Walnut, Basswood, Red and White Oaks, Hemlock, and
Buckeye are among the twenty or so that once abounded here (and still do in
certain locales), but are often replaced by Loblolly Pines and other invasive
species in a bid by paper companies such as Bowaternow AbitibiBowater, Kimberly-Clark,
Mead-Westvaco, Weyerhaeuser now Domtar, and American Packaging to maintain gigantic
monoculture pine plantations that rob the Plateau of its natural beauty and
diversity. According to one study by the University of the South's Analysis Lab
over fifteen percent of intact native forest, (or 66,000 acres), in the
Cumberland Plateau has disappeared since 1981. The importance of these areas
cannot be stressed enough as they are home not only to some of the few
remaining native hardwood forests in the country but also contain many species
of fauna, some of which are found nowhere else on earth.
Unique
Natural Habitats
The
habitats of many foxes and bears are seriously threatened along with a whole
host of bird species. Neotropical birds that migrate through the region such as
thrushes, warblers, vireos, and buntings have had resting areas nonexistent
along the plateau and some salamander and bat species are found solely within
the area, and the same can be said for two species of turtles. These examples
are just a small set of creatures whose entire existence depends upon the
ecologically conscious maintenance of the Cumberland Plateau. By helping to
protect the forests of the Cumberland Plateau, the Dogwood Alliance is
attempting to not only preserve the diverse flora which inhabit the plateau but
also the many fauna as well. Moreover, the small mountain communities which
have survived centuries of urbanization and development and which are now
threatened by an influx of second-home real estate ventures and uninhibited
recreational use will benefit from protecting the plateau.
Leader
in Southern Forest Protection
By
encouraging corporate and individual consumers to purchase products that do not
endanger the forests, such as recycled paper, and working with local and
national interests to pressure paper companies to withdraw from the area the
Dogwood Alliance has established itself as the leader in southern forest
protection. With the help of many supporters and peers we have had tremendous
success reaching an historic agreement with Bowater, Inc., the largest paper
manufacturer operating on the Plateau to end conversion to pine plantations and
improve overall forestry practices.
We
encourage all who read this to help us in the fight to protect the Cumberland
Plateau as the natural wonder that it is.
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