Displaying items by tag: endangered species foothills parkway

Critics have called for full Environmental Impact Statement amid threat to Southern Appalachian habitats; previous draft EIS identifies many rare, notable species in project right of way

GATLINBURG — Proposed construction of an unfinished section of Foothills Parkway from Wears Valley to the Gatlinburg Spur would traverse 9.8 miles of natural beauty that is home to multiple rare species identified in a 1994 study.

The federal government last month opened the latest round of public comment on the project, which would traverse Buckeye Knob and Cove Mountain and multiple aquatic and karst environments. Concerns raised by the public over the decades range from impacts on domestic water supplies and endangered or threatened species to the fact the roadway might be a catalyst for excessive tourism infrastructure in Townsend and Wears Valley. 

The proposed route also extends through dense areas of pyrite, a highly acidic sulfate mineral (also known as fool’s gold) that can poison entire watersheds when exposed if proper erosion controls aren’t followed. Contamination of streams and creeks led to the decades-long delay in full construction of the existing parkway section (known as the missing link) that extends from Walland to Wears Valley.