Month: October 2021

Open Letter to the TWRA:

Another topic we did not have enough time to discuss at the Oct 4th public meeting is herbicides. Which ones will be used to kill the trees you will cut down? What are the side effects of these herbicides on the residential population cattle wells, nearby Firestone Lake, the Caney Fork and other streams, ponds and the current animal, fish, insect and plant population in the woods as it is sprayed?

 Residents close to Bridgestone/Firestone Eastland Road entrance have 100’s if not 1,000s of acres of land to raise cattle, bees, gardens and to harvest fish and animals from Bridgestone/Firestone Wildlife Area and surrounding areas to provide for their families.

 In these uncertain times of the availability of food and the ability to pay for food, poisoning these residents’ private land to turn a forest into a savanna is callous if not criminal. To destroy current trees on Bridgestone WMA (and nearby private lands forests) that are in the prime of their production of acorns to feed wildlife; to kill bees who ARE ENDANGERED unlike quail, to potentially poison Firestone Lake that provide water to the surrounding Bon Air, Ravencroft, parts of Pleasant Hill, DeRossett and Eastland road residents with herbicide overspray, to poison the surrounding private land trees, soil, water, cattle, crops, Caney fork and other streams, need I go on… All this destruction and poisoning to create a savanna which already exists in the United States for a bird that already exists in the United States, based on someone’s BELIEF, but shows no scientific proof, that this is what Tennessee looked like. Savannas provide little sustenance in the winter months for wildlife. Even if Tennessee was a savanna, right now in the PRESENT time people are living in the area, caring for the land and animals, providing food and shelter for their families, so it makes no sense to destroy Bridgestone WMA and private property owners’ lands for something that no longer exists here.

  Should we take down all the houses and dig up all the roads so the landscape looks like something from the past?  Should we bring back the dinosaurs whose bones have been found in Tennessee – just because some believe they roamed Bridgestone/Firestone wildlife area a while back? https://www.thoughtco.com/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-animals-of-tennessee-1092101

According to the UT Institute of Agriculture https://utia.tennessee.edu/ and the Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries https://fwf.tennessee.edu/, the herbicides often used in Tennessee are a “Mixture of Triclopyr and Imazapyr”,  https://fwf.tennessee.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2021/02/Herbicide-mixture-for-FSI.pdf .

The manufacturer of Trilopyr reports about the adverse side effects of their product as the following:

Triclopyr and commercially available products containing this herbicide are of particular concern to human health and the environment, due to: 1) potential toxicity from acute and chronic exposures, including eye, skin, respiratory and gastrointestinal injury; 2) potential adverse effects to non-target plants and animals, due to over-spray, drift, leaching, and translocation to aquatic habitats from weather and erosion factors; and, 3) the potentially extreme hazard to both humans and animals from exposure to “inert” ingredients in triclopyr products, such as EDTA, triethylamine, and kerosene.…..and for specific details of the herbicide side effects there’s this from their website:

https://fwf.tennessee.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2021/02/Herbicide-mixture-for-FSI.pdf .

Human Health Risk Summary

Acute Effects: Brief exposure to triclopyr has been found to cause severe eye damage, skin sensitization, dizziness and/or drowsiness, respiratory irritation, and gastrointestinal irritation. Acute exposure has also been linked to blood, kidney, liver, and nervous system toxicity in animals

Chronic Effects: Carcinogenicity: Though not widely classified as a carcinogen, two unpublished studies on triclopyr ingestion by rats and mice have suggested increased frequency of mammary gland cancer at high doses.

Reproductive & Developmental Toxicity: In experimental animal studies, high doses of triclopyr have been shown to cause reproductive and developmental abnormalities, including: increased fetal death, skeletal malformations, as well as liver and kidney defects.

Ecological Hazard Summary

Environmental Fate: Triclopyr is moderately persistent in soil, with an estimated half-life from 30-90 days, though it has been shown to persist for over a year depending on conditions. In an aquatic setting, half-life ranges from several hours to 10 days depending on water-depth and sunlight conditions. Adsorption to soil particles varies based on formula and soil type. Butoxyethyl ester has a greater potential for surface-water runoff and waterway contamination than the triethylamine salt, due to its low soil adsorption capacity. Butoxyethyl ester and TCP (the most common breakdown product of triclopyr) may pose significant risks to groundwater and surface water sources.

Risk to Non-Target Flora & Fauna: Triclopyr has been shown to be moderately to highly toxic to freshwater plants and fish as well as some marine vertebrates and invertebrates when in butoxyethyl ester form, as well as in the degradate (TCP) form. Salmonid species of fish have been shown to be more sensitive to both the ester form and TCP than other species tested. , Both fish and amphibian species have exhibited behavioral defects, reduced oxygen uptake and loss of motor control when exposed to low doses of triclopyr. At least one study has indicated that mammal populations dwelling in forested areas treated with triclopyr have been significantly reduced. Because triclopyr is a potent plant growth disruptor, unintended target plants may be destroyed due to spray drift, leaching, erosion and storm-caused translocation. Additionally, triclopyr has been shown to disrupt the normal growth and nutrient cycling properties of microorganisms, fungi, mosses and algae; all of which perform critical functions to maintain a healthy ecosystem.

Toxicity of Inert Ingredients

Commercial triclopyr products are typically composed of 40-50% of the triclopyr acid or salt, and 50-60% of inert ingredients or surfactants. Many of these additives have shown to be significantly more toxic to both humans and animals than triclopyr itself. One of these compounds ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) has been shown to cause birth defects, cleft palate, and abnormal skeletons in test animals. EDTA has also been shown to be 10-fold more toxic to fish than the Garlon formulation alone. Another inert, triethylamine is extremely toxic to the eyes, skin and respiratory system. At least one commercially available triclopyr products contains kerosene, which has been linked to severe gastrointestinal, respiratory and nervous system toxicity.

PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU DESTROY.

I don’t think anyone at the Oct.4th meeting took notice that The Savanna Habitats that were shown in The T.W.R.A presentation were all during the green or warmer months. These “Savannas”, while may be ideal habitats for some wildlife during the spring and summer, are almost void of any nutritional needs for the animals in the late fall and winter.

 The T.W.R.A. released 1200 quail in The Ranch portion only a few years ago, and admittedly the T.W.R.A. reports only 6 small coveys remain. I believe this is mostly caused by the rampant coyote population in The W.M.A., as quail roost on the ground at night, and are easily consumed by the aggressive predator. These pests added to the fox, the great horned owl, and common feral house cats, along with the quail hunters’ leaves little room for adequate propagation for the birds. In other words, the quail experiment is already a failure, so why on earth should it be expanded?

Contrary to the disingenuous T.W.R.A. presentation, even the quail that they hold so dear, will need to forage in and around the dense forest areas, during those lean months where Beech mast, Dogwood nuts, and partially eaten acorns, and hickory nuts will help them to survive. It is a well known fact that is known by true outdoorsmen, that deer eat only half the acorn as when they bite it, the other half falls to the ground where it is often left for other animals like the quail and turkey to consume. It is also a well known fact that squirrels are messy eaters, and leave hickory nut and acorn crumbles wherever they eat one. No hardwoods, no squirrels.

 Nature is complex and intertwined, and it seems whenever man interferes, in this case The T.W.R.A., nature loses.  Contrary to the falsehoods the T.W.R.A. is trying to get everyone to believe, the closed canopy hardwoods are both bountiful with sustenance, and essential for all wildlife survival.

 As a bow hunter of over thirty years, I can tell you that it is nearly impossible to have a whitetail deer get close enough in those open Savannas to get a shot at one, especially after the leaves fall. Their keen sense of smell and sharp eye for movement are the reason why. I think a lot of bow hunters along with the rest of the furious residents would be quite unhappy if The W.M.A. only provided opportunities for rifle hunting. I believe that Mike O’Neal was spot on; this is nothing more than a gigantic experiment with gigantic consequences when it fails miserably.

As far as the timber profits are concerned, Neither Tennessee State or The T.W.R.A. are supposed to profit. The Timber Contractor profits, and pays what is known in the industry as “stumpage”. Usually this can be as much as 60% of the actual timber company price per foot that is paid to the logging company. The “stumpage” is paid to alleviate the logging company’s responsibility to remove the stumps left behind when the trees are removed. Tennessee State or The T.W.R.A. only profit if they avoid their responsibility to remove the stumps. This arrangement works to profit private landowners, because they have no obligation to public interest to have the stumps removed, however, both Tennessee State and The T.W.R.A. do. It is my opinion that if Tennessee State workers and equipment are used to deforest any area, 100% of the timber company’s price per foot that is paid out to Tennessee State  should be considered “Stumpage”, and used to to finish the project by reforesting or removing all the stumps.

The information concerning the pricing of timber provided by the T.W.R.A. is misleading as timber is not sold by the ton. It’s sold by the board foot, and different prices per foot for different tree species. Interesting fact: A large, well equipped logging company can deforest approximately 40 acres a week. Just to deforest the proposed few hundred acres, will leave local residents dealing with heavy equipment traffic and logging trucks for at least half a year on Eastland road, which is already in desperate need of repaving.

A meeting is set for October 4, 2021, to determine what the public concerns are with regards to The T.W.R.A.’s plan to deforest part of The Bridgestone Centennial Wilderness Area for the purpose of creating a “Savanna” habitat for Bobwhite Quail. Representative Paul Sherrell is calling for the meeting. As a long time White County resident, Rep. Sherrell has many of the same concerns as everyone else around this area of the county.

The Bridgestone W.M.A. is the only W.M.A. in White County. The main concern is, with plummeting numbers of viable big game in The W.M.A., why is the T.W.R.A. focusing its efforts on this kind of project. The Main decree of the T.W.R.A. is to enhance wildlife. The T.W.R.A. claims that they want to create a “Savanna” in the Bridgestone W.M.A. However, a savanna, by definition, is a flat grassy plain. The Bridgestone W.M.A. is a hilly, rocky, and in some areas very steep and mountainous. Changing the terrain of the W.M.A. to do this would literally take an act of God. I know that The T.W.R.A. has a huge war chest of resources to bring to bear, but I doubt very seriously they have access to the kind of earth moving equipment to adequately satisfy the definition of “Savanna”.

This whole premise is obviously some pipe dream thought up by someone  in  management of The Bridgestone W.M.A. probably a lifelong bird hunter from either another state, or a different part of Tennessee, and is indifferent to the needs or wants of the White County hunting  community as a whole. If so, that would explain away some of the crazy that is presented before us with this “Savanna” idea.

 I am sure of one thing, a great number of residents, hunter or not, is absolutely livid about this including lifelong residents, especially, because they have watched as a great hunting area has been decimated through the direct mismanagement of The Bridgestone W.M.A. since they took over that responsibility several years ago.

 My neighbor can recall counting fifty or more deer walk past his tree stand while bow hunting in a single day. Now, you can drive the whole three miles from the main road down to the river and never see a deer or turkey, no matter the time of day.