After nearly a decade of hard work by WNCA members and many other dedicated people, a great victory has been won for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and its neighbors.
This victory is monumental because:
• the long proposed road called the North Shore Road along the shore of Fontana Lake has finally been put to rest;
• the people of Swain County will be financially compensated in lieu of the originally promised road; and
• pristine streams, sensitive aquatic life and public land have been preserved.
This issue has been festering since a 1943 agreement was signed by the Department of Interior, Tennessee Valley Authority, State of North Carolina and Swain County. The agreement called for the U.S. to replace a county road (connecting Bryson City with Maryville, Tennessee) which was flooded when Fontana Lake was built to support the World War II manufacturing effort. The catch was that the road would be built if Congress appropriated the funds for it. That never happened. Although some funding began construction, it was halted when the sulfidic rock disturbed by road building led to acid drainage that caused total death of aquatic life in the pristine streams down slope. At the same time, a number of new environmental laws prevented many formerly unregulated construction practices, as the nation became increasingly focused on the need for ecological protection of public lands. In addition, the North Shore road became obsolete when alternate highways were built outside the park.
When former 11th District Congressman Charles Taylor quietly slipped funding for the road planning into the federal highway budget for a “road in Swain County,” it took WNCA and its allies by surprise. Advocates realized, too late, that this funding was actually earmarked for the destructive North Shore Road. WNCA acted by inviting national and local organizations who had a stake in protecting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to meet in its Asheville office to discuss this threat. An even larger group attended a second WNCA meeting, and from there agreed to form the “Greater Smoky Mountains Coalition,” dedicated to protecting the Park. Over the years, the Coalition continued to add members who met twice a year in North Carolina and Tennessee. Its mission was to develop strategies that would protect the Park by promoting a cash settlement for Swain County, educate the public and public officials about the road issue, and generate public comment and turnout for meetings around the Environmental Impact Study on the North Shore Road.
WNCA was also instrumental in advising local residents to form the grassroots group called Citizens for the Economic Future of Swain County, a group which consistently advocated for and convinced their neighbors that a monetary resolution to the North Shore controversy would be best for their community. It remains as an affiliate organization of WNCA to this day.
In 2007, the National Park Service virtually killed the road by choosing the monetary settlement alternative in its Final Environmental Impact Statement and Decision Notice. Road proponents were critical of this decision and claimed that the environmental community would drop the issue, abandoning the interests of the County. Instead, the Smokies Coalition continued to work hard, along with the “Citizens for an Economic Future of Swain County” to push for the federal appropriation of $52 million that the County was asking in lieu of building the obsolete road. This figure was decided upon after extensive research dating back to the 1943 agreement and adjusted to early 2000-era economics. In today’s economy, this figure could likely be further adjusted upward, but the County has still only asked for the $52 million.
Rep. Shuler promised to resolve the North Shore Road issue during his first election campaign, and worked tirelessly, behind the scenes and publicly, to bring this about. And thanks also to the diverse members of the Greater Smoky Mountains Coalition. WNCA is proud to have played an important part in this group’s formation and its eventual victory.
