Highlights:
- In a review of environmental effects for a proposed powerline, the Forest Service determined that “cultural attachment” was an issue of “community significance.”
- Cultural attachment is the cumulative effect over time of a collection of traditions, attitudes, practices, and stories that tie a person to the land, to physical place, and to kinship patterns.
- Several areas in Appalachia of the proposed corridors were found to be high in cultural attachment, not subject to mitigation or amelioration of impacts.
- The Forest Service cited cultural attachment as a rationale for rejecting the proposal, creating legal standing for the this term.