Core Areas comprise approximately 42,000 acres designed to facilitate greater understanding of forest environments through collaborative research, administrative studies, and other working relationships. These areas serve as controls in comparative management and, in most cases, have little to no management disturbance.
The larger blocks of core areas have had little to no management since the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) started to manage the national recreation area in the 1960’s.
You can find these Core Areas by using the Area Plan’s maps:
Core Areas provide remote, semi-primitive recreational opportunities that have minimal impacts to ecological systems.
