Pisgah National Forest

The Pisgah National Forest is a National Forest ( National Forest ) in the Appalachian Mountains in the state of North Carolina in the southeastern United States. The forest is managed by the United States Forest Service, which reports to the Ministry of Agriculture. The administration of the Pisgah National Forest is organized jointly with the other three national forests in North Carolina, the Croatan, the Nantahala and Uwharrie National Forest Asheville from. Local Ranger ( reserve caregivers ) are stationed in Pisgah Forest, Burnsville and Nebo.

Geography

The Pisgah National Forest covers an area of ​​2064 square kilometers and lies entirely within the boundaries of North Carolina. The site is located in the southern Appalachians, partly in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Balsam Mountains, reaching heights of up to 1829 meters above sea level. The highest peak east of the Mississippi River, Mount Mitchell is located in the neighboring Mount Mitchell State Park, just outside of the National Forest. The forest also includes areas around the city of Asheville, as well as the municipality of Brevard and parts of the French Broad River Valley. The Pisgah National Forest is located in the area of ​​Transylvania County, McDowell, Haywood, Madison, Caldwell, Burke, Yancey, Buncombe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga and Henderson.

Among the offered leisure and recreation opportunities include, among others hiking and trekking, as well as the area is also used for hunting, logging operations, and as a North Carolina Arboretum.

Primary forest

About 190 square kilometers of forest area consists of primary forest, of which there are about 40 square kilometers in the Linville Gorge.

Management

The Pisgah National Forest is divided into four ranger districts: Grandfather, Toecane, French Broad, and Pisgah. The districts Grandfather and Toecane lie in the northern mountainous regions of the state which include Linville Gorge Wilderness, Wilson Creek, the watersheds of the rivers Toe and Cane, Roan Mountain, Mount Mitchell, Craggy Gardens and Big Ivy / include Coleman Boundary area. The district stretches from the French Broad Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the north along the border with the neighboring state of Tennessee to Hot Springs. Through this part of the National Forest and the Appalachian Trail, one of the longest long-distance trails in the world runs.

Three major tributaries of the French Broad River, the Bent Creek, Mills River and Davidson River in the Pisgah Ranger District are, on the opposite side of the Blue Ridge Parkway along the Pisgah Ridge and Balsam Mountains south of Asheville. Three long-distance footpaths pass through this section of the forest: The Mountains -to -Sea Trail, the Shut- In Trail and the Art Loeb Trail. Also in this district are protected areas in the Shining Rock and Middle Prong Wilderness Esses, two Wilderness Areas, the most severe class of protected natural areas in the United States.

History

The Pisgah National Forest was established in 1916 as one of the first national forests in the eastern United States. Some of the first land purchases by the National Forest Service acquired under the Weeks Act of 1911, a law regulating the establishment of national forests that existed in the West, also called for the East of the country. Although the acquired areas were the first purchased under the Weeks Act trading estate, received another forest in Georgia, which was based on the Gennett Purchase, the first official recognition. On March 1921, the Boone National Forest was assigned to the Pisgah National Forest, on 10 July 1936, most of the Unaka National Forest. In 1954, the management of Pisgah, Croatan and Nantahala National Forest was merged, which are often referred to as the National Forests of North Carolina.

The roots of American forestry lie partly in the Pisgah National Forest. The first school of forestry in the United States, the Biltmore Forest School is located in the southern part of the National Forest. She was from the late 19th century to the early 20th century in operation. It was developed by George Washington Vanderbilt II, builder of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, opened and chaired. The school and the Biltmore Estate, which today lie on the grounds of the Pisgah National Forest, played a major role in the emergence of the U.S. Forest Service.

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