For Immediate Release                            Contact: Angela Coleman
August 25, 1997                                  (404) 347-7226

              THE SOUTH WINS VICE PRESIDENT'S 1997 HAMMER AWARD

                 FOR STUDY OF SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS

    ATLANTA -- In recognition of the unprecedented interagency effort to

gauge the health of Southern Appalachian natural resources, the USDA Forest

Service, along with 14 other Southeastern governmental agencies, has earned

Vice President Al Gore's Hammer Award.

  The Hammer Award, created as a part of Gore's initiative to reinvent

government, is presented to federal agencies and employees who undertake

exceptional efforts to improve the government's operational and cost

effectiveness.  The Southern Appalachian study brought about unprecedented

collaboration between agencies to collectively address regional environmental

conditions of the mountain region.   The Hammer is the second national award

the two-year-long study received.

    "The Southern Appalachian Assessment represents one of the best

collaborative efforts in the country," said Forrest Carpenter, who headed the

team that conducted the study.  "It will be an integral part of our ability to

better address environmental needs in a very valuable part of our region.

By working together and sharing natural resource expertise, we saved taxpayer

dollars by not duplicating efforts. 

   "This award is an outstanding testimony for the hard work of many

individuals."

     Initiated in 1994, the study's final report was published last year. The

assessment's findings provided current data on the region's land, air, water,and people.  Agencies can use the data to work toward a sustainable balance

among the economic uses, cultural values and biological diversity of the

region.  

   Forest Service land managers in the Southern Appalachians will use much of

the data as they revise the plans that guide management on national forests

for the next decade.

     The study's area covered more than 37 million acres in Alabama, South

Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee.

Nearly three fourths of that area is rural and privately owned.  Forests cover

more than 24 million acres of the assessment area.  Government agencies,

however, manage only about 20 percent of the timberland in the Southern

Appalachians.  

     The study's other participants included the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency; North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural

Resources; U.S. Geological Survey; Appalachian Regional Commission; U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers; Georgia Department of Natural Resources; Tennessee Valley

Authority; USDI National Park Service; USDI National Biological Service;

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation; U.S. Department  of

Commerce Economic Development Administration; USDI U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service; Oak Ridge National Laboratory .

 The study  was coordinated through the auspices of the Southern Appalachian

Man and Biosphere cooperative.

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