The Doe Mountain Recreation Authority (DMRA) held their first county meeting at the Johnson County Crewette building last Tuesday. The meeting itself was rather brief compared to several past monthly sessions at the First Tennessee Development district in Johnson City, but there were still many important issues that were covered.

Possibly the biggest accomplishments of the day involved the board’s Administration Committee, which had three specific items that they focused on. The first of these was the adoption of a formal user agreement that will be used as the DMRA gets closer to a soft opening for the mountain. Introduced by Chairman Richard Strang, the agreement will basically act as a permit, with a fee schedule based on the type of use. Having discussed the document for the past couple of months, Strang confirmed that there was just a handful of changes that needed to be discussed, which he went over individually.

One of the most contentious items was the board’s current stance on hunting, which will undoubtedly play a big role in the mountain’s future. However, without a master plan in place, there have been concerns about what the board should allow or not allow during this early phase. Having talked about the issue at length last month, Strang explained that the administration committee revised the wording of the agreement per the direction of the board, which now reads that “hunting will not be allowed at this time.” Several members of the board, including Mayor Lawrence Keeble, reiterated that this decision is just for the time being and the DMRA does plan on allowing hunting in the future, going so far as to put the issue on the agenda next month as a specific discussion point. The other restriction addressed concerned opening and closing hours which the agreement now says will be publicly posted and set at the discretion of the board, as well as the status of camping.  More...