The Southern Environmental Law Center, representing five environmental organizations, filed a federal lawsuit last month against the U.S. Forest Service, opposing a proposed timber harvest in the Nantahala National Forest in the far western corner of North Carolina. The site is only 15 acres. But the lawsuit could have dramatic implications for future timber cutting in the region. …Referred to as stand 41-53, along the Whitewater River in Jackson County, the site is part of an area known as the Southside Project. …“The logging risks destroying many, if not all, of the area’s special ecological values identified by Plaintiffs, the State of NC, and the Forest Service,” said the suit. According to the suit, logging and road building will damage rare plant and animal habitats and will degrade the scenic quality of the Whitewater River gorge.