Atlanta’s largest remaining forest is at stake right now. The Atlanta Police Department has plans of transforming 300 acres of Atlanta’s forest into a training compound. Those who live in neighborhoods that border the forest have heard the sounds of the firing range that occur in the forest, which to them feels like it’s right in their backyard. Neighbors to the forest are worried about the consequences once an actual police training facility is built. Many are referring to the firing range space as “Cop City.”

Ryan Millsap and Shadowbox Studios, a film production company, plan on clearing out 170 acres. The land is said to be used for building the largest movie soundstage, and thus, making Atlanta the new “Hollywood.” Some claim that a soundstudio will create more jobs in Atlanta, but in reality, the studio will serve as a new spot for many industry specialists coming from New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Many residents neighboring the forest fear an increase of rent, evictions, and risk of gentrification of Atlanta’s lower-income neighborhoods.

Atlanta or "the city in the forest” is characterized by its huge canopy, which covers about half of its surface. This forest has long been part of an ambitious ecological project to create a vast greenbelt of protected natural areas that would connect southeast Atlanta and neighboring DeKalb County to the southwest. This greenbelt would bring many environmental benefits to a city increasingly affected by natural disasters. 

Climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of weather events, subjecting areas like Atlanta to dozens of tropical storms that previously would have primarily affected coastal regions. Not to mention that average temperatures are rising in Atlanta faster than in most other cities. The forest is a critical part of the climate infrastructure, protecting the region from storm runoff, cleaning the air, and providing shade during Atlanta's hot summer months. Water contamination from stormwater runoff is a significant risk due to the city's combined sewer system - when there are extreme rains, water in the pipes overflows and spills waste into creeks and rivers, which could prove dangerous to residents of surrounding areas and the environment.

Before they were violently driven out during the Trail of Tears in the 1820s and 30s, the Weelaunee forest land had been occupied and shepherded by the Mvskoke Creek  people for nearly 13,000 years. 

In the 1820s, a Mr. Lochlin Johnson owned “what was probably the finest plantation in the country” in the midst of the Weelaunee forest. The land changed private hands a few times, before being sold to and used by the City of Atlanta as a prison farm. Honor Farm was operational by 1920 and touted as the place to be the place for non violent criminals where it was said they had fresh air, ample food, honorable work and even free time. 

However the truth is that the prison farm was perpetually overcrowded, poorly ventilated, terribly unsanitary and riddled with disease. The incarcerated were overworked, subject to corporal punishment and sexual assault. They lacked healthcare and nutritious food, as the best of what they harvested and reared was reserved for guards and hired help. The prison farm ran continuously from 1920 to nearly 1990 and during that time those in charge at the prison and in the city regularly lied to the public, and to the incarcerated without consequence. They continuously demonstrated their allegiance to capital over the people of the city. Many records of the prison are missing or have not been gone yet, but what has been uncovered is horrific. There are even oral histories of unmarked graves on the grounds.

In September of 2021, Atlanta’s city council solicited public comment on the intent to build the behemoth training center and received around 17 hours worth of comment. 70% of which was not in favor of the center. Community members cited that APD already operates a firing range in the forest which they find disruptive; and in this poor and predominantly Black part of Dekalb county, the police have not shown to be good neighbors. They have not been faithful with the little they have, the “little” being one third of the city’s total budget– so why should they be trusted with much –a $90 million playground– ?

Despite the clear “no” from the community, the city plans to continue with the bulldozing of the forest, and building of the training center (and sound stage). In doing so, they have assassinated a peaceful forest defender, ​​Tortuguita and arrested and charged 41 others with domestic terrorism. 

We are asking for the president of Oglethorpe Dr. Nicholas Ladany to, on all of our behalfs stand in solidarity with the Weelaunee forest and its defenders. Sign the letter on https://defendtheatlantaforest.org/solidarity/ and endorse the cause. Thank you.

This petition is created for student research on the petitioning process and will not be submitted to any government or institution.