There's a new bear in town. Not "Smokey", the good ol' bear that helps us prevent forest fires. But "Smoky" the Bear of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. And while this bear hates to be the bearer of bad news, he's got some news that's hard to bear. Ok, I'm stopping with the bear puns, just bear with me.

I've been doing a bit of research to find out the history behind the North Shore Road issue (or as the locals calls it, the "Road to Nowhere"). This proposed road would be 34 miles long, and slice through one of our country's favorite parks. In addition, it would take over 15 years to build and cost approximately $600 million dollars in taxpayer money. According to an interesting commentary from the Mountain XPress, this story started during World War II:

When the Tennessee Valley Authority built the [Fontana Dam] in the 1940s, residents of the area to be flooded (which included N.C. 288 in Swain County, the only road access) were forced to move. To compensate these people, the federal government paid them for their land and promised to build a road along the north shore of Fontana Lake after World War II. But only a few miles of the road were ever built before the project was abandoned due to environmental and financial concerns.

Now, special interest groups are trying to finish the job that started all those years ago. However, besides being unneccesary, the proposed North Shore Road would have huge environmental impacts, destroying natural resources, beautiful views, wildlife habitats, hiking trails, and even leaving the area vulnerable to acid runoff. 

It seems to me like the perfect solution is on the table: do not build this "Road to Nowhere." Give the Swain County locals $52 million dollars in a settlement which many of the locals and Swain County commissioners are supporting.  If you're interested in contacting your decision-makers about this issue, take action today.

Isn't our state and our country losing enough open space? Why must we further facilitate the destruction by building a road with no real purpose?

Frankly, I just can't bear it.