Route Would Wipe Out Wildlife Refuge, Historic Mine

In this letter to the editor, a Cartersville resident says locals should encourage elected officials to protect the environment and continue Cartersville's high rankings — per the recent Citizen Survey — in the quality of natural environment and preservation of open spaces, farmlands and green space.

Dear Editor: 

As reported in the media, the City of Cartersville recently completed its National Citizen Survey, a report about residents’ quality of life in Cartersville. The report provided interesting insights about living, working and more in Cartersville and can be accessed at http://www.cityofcartersville.org.

I find it interesting that of the 1,200 surveys distributed and 300 completed – which is roughly .06 percent and .017 percent, respectively, of Cartersville’s population – that the quality of the natural environment and preservation of open space, farmlands and green space was “similar” and “much above” the national comparison of other community environmental benchmarks. 

Since the respondent numbers only reflect a very small portion of the community, there is a possibility that the survey results are not entirely accurate or thorough, including the stated 5 percent margin of error. Nonetheless, the results are interesting for several reasons. 

While the city ranked “similar” and “much above” national comparisons in its preservation of open space, farmlands and green space, this perception will assuredly falter when GDOT’s proposed 411 Connector destroys environmental and historic resources in our community.

Residents of Cartersville and Bartow need to more thoroughly understand the potential ramifications that GDOT’s proposed route – Route D-VE – will have on our community. As it stands, Route D-VE will wipe out a 107-acre conservation easement that serves as a significant wildlife refuge, bisects two erosion-prone watersheds that are home to the threatened Cherokee darter, destroys Dobbins Mountain and historic Dobbins Mine and negatively impacts other environmental resources.

Now is the time for residents to encourage our elected officials to protect our local environmental resources before it is too late. Our elected leaders need to speak-out against GDOT’s destructive route to ensure our community is on a course for improvement; not degradation from a costly, environmentally damaging road project. 

Sincerely,

Leslie Crawford