Recovering destroyed land: An historical review of the destructive exploitation and managed re-creation of the northeast Georgia mountain environment from the late nineteenth through the first half of the twentieth century

Lawrence Eugene MacIntyre

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Recovering destroyed land: An historical review of the destructive exploitation and managed re-creation of the northeast Georgia mountain environment from the late nineteenth through the first half of the twentieth century

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Recovering destroyed land: An historical review of the destructive exploitation and managed re-creation of the northeast Georgia mountain environment from the late nineteenth through the first half of the twentieth century

Lawrence Eugene MacIntyre

Washington State University

Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University

2003

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https://hdl.handle.net/2376/107

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Abstract

Forest conservation -- Georgia -- History

Forest policy -- Georgia -- History

The natural resources of the northeast Georgia mountain area underwent significant transformation from 1850 to 1950. The introduction of railroads to the area in the 1880s brought a combination of scenery seeking tourists and industrial resourceextractors looking to turn the rivers and forests into profit. As a result, conflicts developed over how these resources should be managed in the twentieth century. These conflicts were short-lived, however, as the resource extractors successfully denuded the previously forested hills and dammed the Tallulah River, destroying the tourism-based economy that was slowly developing. The Progressive conservation movement in the first decade of the twentieth century successfully influenced the federal government to intervene in the management of the area’s forests by purchasing over half the land in the northeast Georgia mountain area and placing it in the national forest system for protection and restoration Meanwhile, they refused to interfere with private enterprises damming the Tallulah river. This curious conflict of policies created a confusing situation for the government institutions and private industries with investments in the area. This confusion was further exacerbated in the 1940s when the Tennessee Valley Authority received federal government permission to build hydro-electricity generation developments on the primary rivers of the three counties within the Tennessee river basin. The conflicting goals emanating from the federal government and the resourceextraction industries operating in the northeast Georgia mountain area resulted in conflicting natural resource management strategies being practiced on the ground. While the Forest Service worked for environmental restoration in the forests, the Interior Department supported both federal and free enterprise resource-extraction along the area’s primary rivers. The result of competing goals for the natural resources of the northeast Georgia mountain area was that a single management strategy was never developed and implemented during the period under review. Instead, several competing strategies created by different outside institutions were forced to co-exist with the hope that together they could create foundations that would ultimately result in an improved quality of life for the communities and restored conditions for the surrounding environment.

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Title: Recovering destroyed land
Creators: Lawrence Eugene MacIntyre
Contributors: Paul W. Hirt (Degree Supervisor)
Awarding Institution: Washington State University
Academic Unit: History, Department of
Theses and Dissertations: Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
Publisher: Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
Identifiers: 99900525181401842
Language: English
Resource Type: Thesis