Two conservation organizations sued the U.S. Forest Service alleging the agency unlawfully entered into a contract with a logger to harvest timber near the Nolichucky River in the Pisgah National Forest.
The lawsuit claims the U.S. Forest Service sold timber through an unauthorized salvage logging operation on 135 acres of national forest land within the Nolichucky River Gorge as part of post-Tropical Storm Helene debris removal.
The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the suit Nov. 6 in the Western District of North Carolina on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and MountainTrue. The complaint names the Forest Service, Acting Forest Supervisor Cavan Fitzsimmons and Appalachian District Ranger Jen Barnhart.
After Helene, Pisgah National Forest was authorized by the Forest Service’s Washington Office to conduct emergency salvage logging — or removal of downed trees — in a “discrete set of locations,” the lawsuit said. This area of Annie’s Cove in Poplar was not specified in the list, according to the suit.
The sale was not announced publicly nor did it go through the typical public comment or bid process, according to the suit. A closure order for the area was carried out on Sept. 11, saying the closure was “for the protection of public health and safety following Tropical Storm Helene,” the lawsuit said.
In the Forest Service’s response to the complaint, the agency claims this area was identified as a high-risk area for wildfires, which have grown more complex in the wake of Helene. Annie’s Cove was identified as a candidate for fuel reduction by salvaging downed and damaged timber in early 2025, the response said.
Sam Evans, an attorney with Southern Environmental Law Center, told the Citizen Times Nov. 26 that the plaintiffs supported the removal of Helene-related blow down. However, the Forest Service “refused to commit” to limiting the project to just downed trees — leaving the door open for cutting down live trees, Evans claimed.
Work on the sale began on Oct. 23 and should be completed by the end of November. That’s long before the May 1 deadline for the conclusion of contracts within the Forest Services’ Emergency Response, the agency said in court filings.
But for Evans, the lawsuit seeks to highlight a pattern that is more troubling than just this one project.
‘Weak plans,’ transparency concerns
The Nolichucky River rises at the confluence of the Cane River and the North Toe River in Yancey County, where its deep gorge begins around Poplar, North Carolina, and ends near Unaka Springs in Tennessee. The river has been described as
