Concerned with the potential for massive tree harvests and added costs to local economies, three Tennessee counties have passed a 15-cent per ton severance tax on trees cut for pulp wood. The tax is already in effect in Wayne County and is expected to be approved in Benton and Anderson counties in July. The Anderson County bill provides an exemption for land owners holding less than 100 acres, a measure designed to protect small private farmers. Anderson County's tax would mainly raise revenue to repair roads damaged by logging trucks. It could come to a final vote of the 16-member County Commission when it meets July 7.
Enactment requires a three-quarters majority vote.
The other major concern prompted by clear-cutting is the health of rivers running through the affected forests. Myczack and her husband Leaf are known for long involvement with the South's environmental wars and for living in and patrolling the Tennessee River on the 30-foot sailboat Broadened Horizons, made from wood fished out of the river. She says clear-cutting leads to soil erosion and allows the top soil, called silt, to clog streams and kill fish, a major concern of the US Department of Fish and Wildlife. It takes 50 to 100 years for a hardwood forest to truly regenerate. Their appetite is insatiable.