For immediate release, December 21, 2005

STOP I-3 partners with SAFC

The Stop I-3 Coalition has significantly expanded its reach in partnership with the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, based out of Asheville, North Carolina.

The partnership, which will facilitate tax-exempt contributions to the Stop I-3 Coalition, "will allow us to more than double our efforts to stop this interstate," said Elizabeth Wells, chairperson of the Stop I-3 group.

The Stop I-3 Coalition, with county chapters and supporters in the states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, as well as more than two dozen partner organizations, has grown like wildfire since earlier this year. It aims to counter federal efforts to build a new Interstate through the mountains of Southern Appalachia from Savannah to Knoxville.

The Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition and its 22 member organizations, in turn, has it as a goal to strengthen grassroots groups like the Stop I-3 Coalition, according to Mark Shelley, Director. "We want to help catalyze the effort to stop I-3," Shelley said. "This road, if it's ever built, would destroy many of our hopes for forest conservation in this southern Appalachian region."

The Stop I-3 Coalition, similarly, contends that such a huge and expensive new road would do irreparable harm to mountain economies, forest, farms, and streams, and to rural qualities of life rooted in a strong sense of place.

Contributions to support this effort can be made directly at www.StopI-3.org.

Checks also can be mailed to the Stop I-3 Coalition, c/o Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, 46 Haywood Street, Suite 323, Asheville, North Carolina 28801. The checks should be made out to SAFC with notation that these are for the Stop I-3 Coalition.

"We are delighted with the formation of this partnership, which will enable the Stop I-3 Coalition to do the much-needed expansion of grass roots organization, research and education," Wells said. "We are pleased with what we have been able to accomplish thus far, but you haven't seen anything yet as to what is coming next."

Contacts:
Elizabeth Wells, (706) 878-2030, or Mark Shelley, (828) 252-9223