Thanks to Chuck for posting those articles. A smile came to my face when I read Sam Venable's article early yesterday morning. I was going to post after my day birding. For those who do not know, Sam Venable, noted columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinnel, will be speaking at a Dogwood Arts Festival event sponsored by the Knoxville Chapter of Tennessee Ornithological Society on Friday evening April 22 at Ijams Nature Center. Charlie --- "Charles P. Nicholson" <cpnichol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Below are two good editorials from today's Knoxville News-Sentinel > on the > recent increase in selling off publicly owned lakefront lands in > Tennessee > for the development of private homes and golf courses. This > increase is not > restricted to the East Tennessee lakes mentioned in the article and > is one > of the greatest, if not the greatest, threats to public lands in > the region. > > Thank goodness there is one public agency willing to say no! > > Chuck Nicholson > Norris, TN > > > URL: > http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/news_columnists/article/0,1406,KNS_359_3474169,0 > 0.html > Just say 'no' to land sales > By SAM VENABLE, venob@xxxxxxxxx > January 16, 2005 > </kns/columnist/0,1406,KNS_359_1660,00.html> When I heard the > rumor, I > laughed. > "Somebody wants to buy part of Chuck Swan Wildlife Management Area > and turn > it into an upscale housing development? Hoo-boy! That's a good one! > What > other jokes have you got?" > > Advertisement > > > > I'm no longer laughing. I'm dead serious. Indeed, I want to shed > tears for > the future of public land throughout Tennessee. > I hold in my hands a proposal by Sunset Bay of Sharps Chapel, a > division of > National Land Partners. It purports to do precisely what the rumor > mill was > saying: Buy a piece of prime public shoreline on Norris Lake and > convert it > to houses and golf courses. > Calling its bid a "land diversification plan," Sunset Bay laid out > a > "win-win" deal. The state would reap a windfall from the sale of > the > property, the homeowners would fund ranger positions and the area > would > remain open to the public. > (For now, anyway. Who knows what changes the future could bring?) > The proposal was made Nov. 21 to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources > Agency, > which shares management responsibility of the 24,444-acre tract > with the > State Division of Forestry. > It didn't take long for TWRA to respond. On Dec. 9, the agency sent > a short > reply to Sunset Bay. Thanks, but no thanks. > Bully for TWRA! > At last, here's an agency that sees these pig-in-a-poke > arrangements for > exactly what they are: A raid on the public pantry. > Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the Tennessee Valley > Authority. > TVA, which once set the gold standard for public land stewardship, > now seems > hell-bent to get rid of some of the property it acquired via > imminent > domain. > Actually, "acquired" is a tame word. On the Tellico project, TVA > virtually > stole thousands of acres of bottomland farms that were not needed > for the > reservoir itself. The one saving grace was that these lands would > be held > for the public good. > What constitutes this "public good"? > Keeping it public would do for starters! > But TVA has already engineered the sale of 116 acres for the Rarity > Pointe > development and in so doing hung a "Land Office Open For Business" > sign on > its front door. Not surprisingly, developers up and down the > Tennessee > Valley want a piece of this lucrative action. > I don't blame them. If I were a developer, I'd be drooling, too. > But the > fact remains these are public lands. They should remain public. > From now on. > Period. > TVA likes to call the Rarity Pointe deal a "land swap." The agency > points > out that the developer, Mike Ross, bought 256 acres and gave it to > TVA in > exchange for the right to buy the 116. > That's technically correct. But the 256 was public land to begin > with. It > was part of the Tellico Reservoir Development Agency's industrial > property. > TVA can sugarcoat this shell game all it wants. But it is ethically > and > morally wrong. It needs to stop - and it needs to stop now before > other > agencies lose their bearing. > Can you imagine how many billions of dollars the National Park > Service could > get for a housing development in Cades Cove? Or logging the > watershed of > Mount LeConte? > Heaven help us. > Sam Venable's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and > Fridays. He > may be reached at 865-342-6272 or venob@xxxxxxxxxx > **************************************************************************** > *** > > URL: > http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/sports_columnists/article/0,1406,KNS_303_3474727 > ,00.html > From TVA mud flats to the land of muckety-mucks > By BOB HODGE, hodge@xxxxxxxxx > January 16, 2005 > DANDRIDGE -- Lying in red clay mud is no way for a 43-year-old man > to spend > the morning. > But days of being able to lie in the mud around Douglas Lake might > be > numbered. > > Advertisement > > > > It's been about 20 years since I had gotten some burlap, a few > decoys and > went duck hunting on the mud flats at Douglas. Granted, > temperatures were > high enough to almost -- emphasis on almost -- make me believe in > global > warming. Any ducks hanging around the lake probably were there to > get a tan. > > But there we were in the mud, a spread of decoys and a sense of > urgency. Was > it because duck season only has two more weeks? > No. > It's because Tennessee Valley Authority headed up by Bill Baxter > seems > hell-bent on selling off every acre they, uh, make that we, own. > It's not that there are plans to sell off any chunks of the public > land > around Douglas, but that's probably because no one in the twin > towers has > gotten that far north yet. They've got to finish up Rarity Pointe > on > Tellico, get rid of that danged 1,500 or so acres on Watts Bar, > then they > can start looking around at the other lakes. > It's kind of like a big yard sale with TVA saying, "Public land? We > don't > need no stinkin' public land!" > But all we're really talking about here are some trees, rocks, dirt > and some > wildlife. Sure, it's a place to hunt or hike or fish or camp, but > that's a > bit overrated. > Condominiums, half-million dollar houses and golf courses are what > the > public really wants. It's all about jobs and economics and > expanding tax > bases and stuff us dullards in the public can't begin to > understand. > Last April, I probably was among the last people to enjoy Rarity > Pointe in > its natural state . . . or at least what was left of its natural > state. > Along with Britt Limpus, I turkey hunted the woods that were still > standing, > one minute working our way across an oak flat, the next working our > way > across a muddy wasteland a bulldozer had knocked flat. There were > turkeys to > be had, but I didn't go back last year. > Now, I never will. > In a few months, shrubs and driveways and those all-important > expanded tax > bases will replace the mud. The turkeys, hunters and rest of the > public can > go someplace else, but it seems that selling someplace else already > is part > of the plan. > This isn't about a farmer cashing out his property. This is about a > public > institution cashing out our property. > Oh well. > The public seems more or less resigned to letting it go. Mention > drilling > for oil a gazillion miles away in the Arctic and people march in > the > streets. Mention turning public property in our own backyards over > to > developers and you get static. > Heck, it's only some trees and dirt and rocks, and right now it's > all kind > of mucky anyway. But after the draw down the points and flats of > Douglas are > perfect for duck hunters who don't mind suck-footing their way > through the > muck. > With two dozen decoys and some burlap for camouflage Billy Fly, > Jerry > Dinkins and myself hid in plain sight. We went home with about a > half-dozen > ducks and enough red clay stuck to us to make our own mud flat . . > . which > we may have to do if TVA gets its way. > Bob Hodge covers outdoors. He may be at 865-342-6314 > > > ATTACHMENT part 2 application/ms-tnef name=winmail.dat ===== ************************************************** Charlie Muise, Naturalist near Great Smoky Mountains National Park "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer." -Edward Abbey ************************************************** __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. 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