Editor:
The year 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. Oct. 30 marked the 25th anniversary of the Tennessee Wilderness Act of 1984, which permanently set aside some of the truly wild places in the Volunteer State. Today there is a citizen's movement to create additional wilderness areas within the Cherokee National Forest.
The area Tennessee Wild seeks to protect includes forest service land in my county of Monroe. The vast majority of this land is already in the forest service plan for wilderness designation, and all of it is already public land.
Setting aside land for wilderness protection can be done by Congress. I call on US Reps. John J. Duncan Jr. and Zach Wamp and Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander to sponsor the legislation.
On a hike in one of the proposed areas, I witnessed wild turkeys. I hiked through virgin forests and found the peace that can only be found in a truly wild place.
It was comforting to know that my footprints and the footprints of other hikers, hunter and fishermen will be the only marks of man on this land so that future generations can experience the place just as I did.
Bill Hodge
Tellico Plains, TN
