GOLDEN POND – The Coalition for the Preservation of Land Between the Lakes would like interested citizens to join the tour of the The 8600 on Sunday June 28. Meet at the North Station welcome center at 3:00 in the afternoon.
The Coalition is asking the Forest Service to begin work on writing a new Management Plan and would like for the public to join them in preventing LBL from looking like The 8600.
What is the 8600? According to the coalition’s website and recent flyers, “The 8600 is 2 large sections totaling 8600 acres in Land Between the Lakes that was set aside in 2004 as a demonstration that the Forest Service could create an Oak Grassland. The Oak Grassland is part of the Pre-European style landscape that the Forest Service believes existed several hundred years ago. The science says yes, there were oak grasslands on a small scale, but the Forest Service wants to create them on a large scale. So what do they do to create these landscapes? They log trees, burn and use herbicides in hopes that native grass will grow up between the few remaining trees. Has this worked? Not yet. All throughout the areas they have practiced this on THE 8600 experiment it has created briars, weeds, brush and a scarred, burned landscape. But this has not stopped the Forest Service from trying these plans outside The 8600. Recently they have been commercial logging on Eddyville Ferry Road and the Paradise area.”
For more information go to www.the8600.com or visit their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/876410535767647