Alternate Land Uses

There were several themes in the rest of the trip. Much of the time was spent in issues relating to forest management. We were able to see four different approaches. Appalachian Sustainable Development, an N.G.O., strives to facilitate economic and sustainable uses of the land. It provides landowners an opportunity to sustain ably harvest forest products by operating a sawmill and solar powered kiln and by developing markets for their products.

We also visited private land under a sustainable harvest rotation, and the Boone National Forest where different ways to protect the forest from an anticipated gypsy moth infestation were being tested. Finally, we visited Great Smokey Mountain National Park, to see forest largely unaffected by humans. In contrast to the first part of the trip, this was quite hopeful, as we met interesting people with interesting ideas.