Foothills Landscape Project Community Collaboration

Background and Archive

The Foothills Landscape – 157,625 acres – stretches across the Chattahoochee National Forest and marks the area where the mountains are visibly reduced to foothills. Shortleaf pine and pitch pine forests are the dominant forest types, with hardwoods accounting for about a quarter of the landscape. The area offers a plethora of recreation opportunities, with nearly 200 miles of hiking, biking, horse and OHV trails and dozens of recreation sites. It includes a portion of the Cohutta WMA and Dawson, Fannin, Gilmer, Habersham, Lumpkin, Murray, Rabun and White Counties.

Foothills Landscape MapProject Vision: To create, restore and maintain ecosystems that are more resilient to natural disturbances. Specifically, the Forest Service is seeking to enhance and provide quality habitat for rare and declining species, as well as desired game and non-game species; to reduce hazardous fuel loading across the landscape to diminish damaging wildfires; to improve soil and water quality; to provide sustainable recreation and access opportunities; and to awaken and strengthen a connection to these lands for all people.

Purpose and Need:  The Foothills Landscape Project would maintain or improve watershed and ecological conditions by addressing the need to improve biologic integrity, increase the ecosystem’s resilience to disturbance, restore connectivity, and support high water quality and soil productivity. You can read the proposal, along with all the valuable feedback we received during the official comment period that ended on December 22, 2017, on the project NEPA webpage  (use the "Public Comment/Objection Reading Room" link on the right side of the page to see all the comments.)  

 

More about the Foothills Landscape Collaboration

Background Information on the Foothills Landscape (please note - this is archived information as shared during project kick-off in 2016; some data may no longer be accurate):

 

Collaboration Meeting/Event Archives

 

Community Conversations (December 2019 in Dahlonega, Clayton, Chatsworth and virtual):

Workshop VI (May 29, 2018 in Clarkesville)

Workshop V (February 14-15, 2018 in Dahlonega)

Community Conversations (October 2017 in Dahlonega, Atlanta, Clayton and Chatsworth):

Workshop IV (July 11-12, 2017 in Ellijay)

Workshop III (May 23-24, 2017 in Clayton)

Workshop II (March 28-29, 2017 in Gainesville):

Workshop I (January 31 - February 1, 2017 in Dahlonega):

Past Field Trips

  • Field Trips Invitation - June 11, 2017
  • Watergauge Project Field Trip Invitation, Video from the day, May 12, 2017
  • Oakey Mountain OHV Trail Field Trip, June 16, 2017
  • Active Timber Sale Field Trip, June 21, 2017
  • Chattooga River Recreational Sites Field Review, June 23, 2017
  • Little Bald Mountain Old Growth Field Trip, July 7, 2017
  • Woodland and Old Growth Small Group Meeting, July 25, 2017
  • Bear Creek Corridor and Holly Creek Site Visit, July 28, 2017
  • Motorized Access in the Foothills Landscape Meeting, August 2, 2017
  • Watershed Health Meeting, August 2, 2017
  • Canebrake Restoration Field Trip, August 4, 2017
  • Jake and Bull Mountain Trail System Field Trip, August 16, 2017

Science Symposium (May 4, 2017 in Sautee Nacoochee)

Webinars 

Community Conversations (October 2016 in Dahlonega, Gainesville, North Atlanta, Clayton and Chatsworth):

Collaborative Learning Workshop (June 17, 2016 in Gainesville):

Stay Connected:

Sign up to receive information about the Foothills Landscape collaboration by email. You can also keep in touch with happenings on our Facebook and twitter pages (@ChattOconeeNF).