http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Living/Outdoors/article.php?id=79197
350 year old chestnut oak - photo by Jerry Greer
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a new book featuring photography of the Blue Ridge Mountains might offer quite an earful - which is exactly the goal of a conservation group presenting the book to the public at East Tennessee State University Thursday.
The book, titled "The Blue Ridge: Ancient and Majestic," features photography by Johnson City resident Jerry Greer and essays by Jonesborough resident Charles Maynard. It highlights the natural beauty of the world's oldest mountains, stretching from Georgia to Pennsylvania.
After six years of traveling from Georgia to Pennsylvania taking pictures and collaborating, Greer and Maynard published the book in June through Mountain Trail Press, a small publishing company in Johnson City where Greer is a founding partner.
"The book itself covers history as well as conservation and preservation," said Greer. "It's a book that's really designed for anyone to look at, anyone who has any interest in the Blue Ridge and the range."
Greer and Maynard will present the book and perform a signing at an event tonight hosted by ETSU and organized by the Southern Appalachian Forest Commission and Tennessee Wild, a preservation organization for the Cherokee National Forest.
"What Tennessee Wild seeks is to educate the public," said Jeff Hunter, spokesman for Tennessee Wild. "We're going to be talking about wilderness stewardship and how it's important for folks to come out and help maintain trails in the wilderness area. They don't maintain themselves."
The even coincides with a conservation effort making its way through Congress led by U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker.
Alexander presented the Tennessee Wilderness Act of 2010 to Congress in June, proposing to add 19,568 acres of designated wilderness to the Cherokee National Forest spaced out in six different locations throughout the state. This would increase the amount of designated wilderness space from 10 percent to 13 percent of the entire forest - still less than 1 percent of the area of Tennessee.
The informational event, taking place from 7-9 in Brown Hall Auditorium, is free and open to the public.
"It's a pretty awesome thing," said Greer of the proposed legislation. "There's a little bit of opposition, but we try to get people to understand who are against it that the properties that are being brought in are already wilderness - not technically wilderness, but have been managed as wilderness since the '70s or '80s. So nothing is really going to change except they're going to be permanent."
Two of the properties proposed to become wilderness are in the Northeast Tennessee region. The Sampson Mountain addition is located near the intersection of Washington, Greene and Unicoi counties, adjacent to the existing Unaka Mountain Wilderness. The Big Laurel Branch addition is located northwest of Elizabethton near Hampton, straddling Carter and Johnson counties, adjacent to the existing Pond Mountain Wilderness.
The Wilderness Act of 1964 defines wilderness as "land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, ... which generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable. ..." Wilderness can only be designated on federal land, and only Congress can designate areas for wilderness protection.
While road construction, logging and the use of motorized vehicles is prohibited in wilderness areas, hunting and fishing is permitted, and motorized vehicles can be used in emergencies.
Tonight's event will also feature an appearance from national wilderness historian Doug Scott, who will address the audience on the subject of nature conservation. Scott is also the policy and research manager for the Campaign for America's Wilderness of the Pew Environment Group.
"Our mountains have been under pressure for a number of years with people wanting to live in the mountains," said Greer, who has lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains for nearly all of his life. "It's a catch 22 kind of thing, because everybody wants to live there. But in the end, we lose that wilderness feel as more people move in. So we love our mountains to death."
"The Blue Ridge: Ancient, Majestic and Wild" is available at Barnes and Noble Booksellers, Nelson Fine Art Gallery and online at the book's website.
Greer is a professional conservation photographer whose work has appeared in Appalachian Trailway News, Backpacker, Blue Ridge Country, L.L. Bean and Mountain Bike magazines, among others. He has also published several other books.
More information including maps of the proposed additions is available at www.tnwild.org
