Cohutta WIlderness, Georgia   BobSmith
  Sep 11, 2004 04:20 PDT 

What kinds of old growth, or champion trees, are in the Cohutta
Wilderness in Georgia? Any to speak of?

When I was in high school, the Cohutta Wilderness was just being formed
(and, later, Jacks River Wilderness). I used to go backpacking in there
at the age of 15-16. I recall as the deadline was looming for the vote
to establish the wilderness, the timber companies were in a frenzy to
cut. Me and my pals watched in complete disgust and some horror as
logging trucks would drive out on the Forest Service roads with single
logs that took up the entire truck.

My question is: did they cut everything old? I always stayed on trails,
and I don't ever recall seeing anything other than mature or second
growth forests.
Re: Cohutta WIlderness   Jess Riddle
  Sep 11, 2004 09:52 PDT 

The state champion witch-hazel, sugar maple, and black locust grow in the
Cohutta Wilderness along with a former state champion hemlock.
Additionally, the tallest known sugar maple, black birch, witch hazel,
pignut hickory, and sassafras grow in the area. However, not all of those
trees grow in uncut areas. The Conasauga Lumber Company logged most of
the area with railroads, stopping in 1936. Overlapping but slightly later
operations, occurred on the middle and upper sections of the Jacks River,
the former now being included in the Wilderness Area. The timing of the
operation on the upper Jacks and the industrial nature of the operation on
the Conasauga and lower Jacks led those operations to be quite thorough.
A smaller organization conducted the operation on the middle Jacks and
used different techniques. I assume you saw the tail end of the operation
on the upper Jacks.

With that being said, Timbering did not completely wipe out the forests
in what is now the Cohutta Wilderness. Hemlocks were not cut on either
Chestnut Creek of Birch Creek, two of the three creeks that come together
to form the Conasauga River. Also the upper half of Hurricane Creek,
which drains into the middle section of the Jacks River, appears
essentially unaltered and still supports old tuliptrees over three feet
dbh. Since the wilderness area has as high a degree of legislative
protection as any portion of the national forest, efforts to locate uncut
stands in the area have been much more limited than elsewhere on the
national forest. Consequently, several undocumented pockets of uncut
forest likely remain in the wilderness.

Several stands of old growth are known to reside in the Cohutta Mountains
outside of the Cohutta Wilderness. The stand in the adjacent Big Frog
Wilderness just over the state line in Tennessee is probably the best
known. Other uncut stands grow on the west side of Flat Top Mountain,
Betty Mountain, Little Bald Mountain, upper Emory Creek, Rocky Face, and
Grassy Mountain. The Grassy Mountain stand is the largest delineated
stand of uncut forest on the Chattahoochee NF, and only the Brasstown Bald
Wilderness has much potential of harboring a larger stand.

Jess Riddle
RE: Cohutta WIlderness   BobSmith
  Sep 11, 2004 19:53 PDT 


Jess Riddle wrote:
 

Since the wilderness area has as high a degree of legislative
protection as any portion of the national forest, efforts to locate
uncut
stands in the area have been much more limited than elsewhere on the
national forest. Consequently, several undocumented pockets of uncut
forest likely remain in the wilderness.

Looks like a good place for some bushwhacking to locate some old growth
trees. I've hiked in there a bit (not in years, though). It's VERY
rugged territory. Even the established trails can be pure hell. I recall
one, Tearbritches Trail, that pretty much plunged straight down the
slopes from a 4K foot summit. I hiked down it, but it was so rough that
I detoured several miles out of my way to avoid having to climb back up.