Swamp ruling could have wide effect

A federal judge has halted plans to cut down trees in a 50 acre cypress swamp that feeds the meandering Canoochee River in Southeast Georgia. Environmental groups say, the ruling doesn't just protect the blackwater Cypress Lake, near Statesboro, but also sends a warning shot protecting thousands of acres across the Southeast.

Cypress Lake is a picturesque pond on Lotts Creek in Bulloch County. Like many mill ponds across the region, it's lined with cypress trees and homes. It feeds a slow-moving river the color of iced tea. Except on this lake, residents want to turn the cypress into mulch. Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper Chandra Brown says, that would alter federally-protected wetlands, something requiring a permit under the Clean Water Act.

"These areas are absolutely critical," Brown says. "They are what make these rivers blackwater rivers."

Blackwater rivers get their unique color from the decaying leaves of nearby trees. The residents said, they didn't need a permit to cut the trees and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers agreed with them. That set up a lawsuit filed two years ago. Now, a federal judge has issued a ruling. At issue is the definition of silviculture, the practice of forestry management exempt from the Clean Water Act permitting process.

"What the judge said is that silviculture is more than just cutting a few trees," Brown says. "It's active, ongoing management of forests."

Brown says, the residents had not shown that there had been timber harvesting in the past and that such harvesting would take place in the future. The residents said, the trees would grow back from stumps, but scientists countered that as a dubious proposition. Brown says, the ruling doesn't just protect Cypress Lake and the Ogeechee-Canoochee basin, but thousands of acres of acres across the region.

"This means that when these decisions are made to exempt harvests that won't grow back, we can challenge those in the future as well," Brown says. "And hopefully, they'll actually change the way the Corp makes their decisions and their determinations about exemptions."

A spokesman for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers said, the agency is still reviewing the decision and could appeal it. A representative of the Cypress Lake homeowners did not return a call in time for broadcast.