Used dog-waste bags, old underwear, and other pieces of trash lay around the bathroom facilities located at Carver’s Gap in Roan Mountain, a place known for its beautiful mountain balds and colorful rhododendron plants.
Carver’s Gap is located inside the Cherokee National Forest, and like many other National Forest areas around the nation, the federal workers and volunteers who work to maintain areas like Carver’s Gap must remain home as the partial federal government shutdown enters day 12.
The bathrooms at Carver’s Gap are closed every winter season and the United State Forest Service doesn’t provide trash receptacles or trash pick-up services at the site, so it is unclear if the accumulating trash is due to the partial shutdown.
However, there is some clear effect of the partial shutdown on places like Carver’s Gap and the Roan Mountain portion of the Cherokee and Pisgah National Forests, said Marquette Crockett, who is the Highlands of Roan Stewardship Director for the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy.
“Areas like the Blue Ridge Parkway and picnic areas are apparently overflowing with trash,” said Crockett. “Carver’s is a little bit different in that regard. However, besides picking up trash, the shutdown stops all federal employees from doing any work or maintenance.
“Also, due to liability purposes, they can’t allow the volunteer trail crews to be out working on federal land,” added Crockett. “All of the storm damage that we have had, if there are trees across the trail or if there are washouts or anything like that, they are not allowed to go up there and access them right now, let alone work on them. Anything like is at ‘your own risk.’”
Marquette said every year the Roan Stewardship has a planning meeting to talk about management and recreation on the Roan. The meetings involve 15 to 20 state and federal agencies along with local universities and nonprofits. The top topic of this years meeting was going to be conservation of Gray’s Lily, a rare plant that can be found on Roan Mountain, The meeting, however, had to be canceled due to the partial government shutdown.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had to cancel our meeting since none of our federal partners can attend,” said Crockett. “We’re just hoping things get back to normal soon, so we can get back to the business of caring for our mountains.”
The Elizabethton Star reached out to some local members of the U.S. Forestry Service. Those individuals, however, were not allowed to speak about the government shutdown or the federal employee furlough.