NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Effective immediately, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry (TDF) is partially closing access to the Franklin State Forest in Franklin and Marion counties, citing “serious threats against the safety of visitors to and professionals working within the forest.”
According to TDF, officials became aware of claims that areas of the forest where loggers are conducting a harvest operation had been spiked this week. If those areas have been spiked, it poses a “very serious threat” to the safety of forest visitors, state forest management staff and logging crews, as well as local sawmill employees, the TDF said.
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Spiking is a form of forest industry sabotage, according to TDF. The practice seeks a metal rod or other material hammered into a tree truck either near the base of a tree where a logger or firefighter might cut, or higher up where it would affect a sawmill. Contact with the spike would damage saw blades and could cause flying metal and wood pieces; it could also make chainsaws kickback, which can result in serious injuries or death to workers or wildland firefighters.
Spiking also negatively impacts tree health by creating a pathway for pests and infections to enter the tree, per TDF…