NASHVILLE – Effective immediately, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry (TDF) is suspending public access to the eastern half of Franklin State Forest in Franklin and Marion Counties. This step follows serious threats against the safety of visitors to and professionals working within the forest.
This week, criminals claimed to have spiked areas of the forest where loggers are conducting a harvest operation. If areas have been spiked, this poses a very serious threat to the safety of forest visitors, state forest management staff, and logging crews, as well as locals employed at sawmills.
Spiking is a form of forest industry sabotage where a metal rod or other material is hammered into a tree trunk 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 damages saw blades, can cause flying metal and wood pieces, and 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…