Upper Chattooga Wild & Scenic River Protection
Boater lobby groups have mounted a national campaign to pressure the U.S. Forest Service to provide expanded and unrestricted access to the fragile headwaters portion of the Chattooga River that runs through the Ellicott Rock Wilderness. Read below to learn why so many Georgia citizens think boating should not be allowed on this stretch of river.
UPDATE 12-21-2009: The U.S. Forest Service withdraws all three decisions
The U.S. Forest Service on December 21 withdrew all three decisions proposing to permit limited boating on the Upper Chattooga River, citing “inconsistencies” the agency had discovered “between various components of the decision documents.” The intention is to conduct “additional analysis” and re-issue decisions “probably in early spring,” according to Liz Agpaoa, regional forester for the USDA Forest Service’s Southern Region.
It is expected that this unusual move also will have the effect of “mooting” a related lawsuit initiated by the American Whitewater lobby and other groups, which had sought to immediately open the entire 21 miles of the Upper Chattooga to unlimited boating.
Click on this link for details of the Forest Service announcement
UPDATE 12-14-2009: Many Legal issues loom in Chattooga boating issue
The Forest Service and various interested parties are wading through a complex legal dance. Click here for a summary of where things stand.
UPDATE 10-30-2009: ForestWatch appeals and files successful "Stay Request"
Georgia ForestWatch has appealed the Forest Service Decision to open the Upper Chattooga headwaters to limited boating. ForestWatch believes the 30-year boating closure remains the best option to protect the experience of most users, the fragile aquatic ecosystem and the forestland through which the river runs. Details on this issue can be read below in the 8-28-09 Update and Background sections.
Shortly after appealing, ForestWatch then filed a stay request which asked the Forest Service not to implement their decision until the appeal process is finalized. The Forest Service has accepted this stay, thereby agreeing to delay opening the Upper Chattooga to boating.
Want more info?
1. Click here for the Appeal filed by Georgia ForestWatch and our legal partner
2. Click here for the Stay filed by Georgia ForestWatch and our legal partner
UPDATE 8-28-2009: Decision announced on Chattooga Boating issue
After being closed to the impacts of boating for 30 years; after more than two years of analysis and 3,000 public comments, the Forest Service has released its final “Decision” for recreation management in the Upper 23 miles of the singularly beautiful Chattooga River. The “Decision” allows limited non-commercial boating on a seven-mile section of river, at relatively high flow levels between December 1 & March 1. Boater groups in kayaks or canoes can number no more than six people per group, but the number of groups per day is unlimited. Other key decisions seek to control removal of down trees from the river, manage for group size for hikers and fisher folk, and define designated camping areas for lowering visitor impacts in the popular headwaters area.
Georgia ForestWatch previously stated that it agrees with the Forest Service that action is needed to protect the outstandingly remarkable values of the Upper Chattooga. But it disagrees with the agency that allowing boats on this wild and biologically diverse stretch of headwaters can be accomplished without harming a precious natural resource and degrading the experience of solitude and wilderness available in this area.
In particular, we are concerned that the proposal:
- Appears to have insufficient commitment to appropriate monitoring and enforcement.
- Will not adequately protect this corridor from unlawful removal of large woody debris, crucial to the health of this river, as well as protection of the Congressionally designated Ellicott Rock Wilderness.
- Raises continued questions as to how boaters would be permitted to access the higher reaches of the river.
Georgia ForestWatch will closely review the Forest Service decision and related, 199-page Environmental Assessment and consider more detailed comment within the 45-day deadline set by the agency for further comment or appeal. Additional updates will be posted as the situation warrants.
BACKGROUND: Working to save Georgia's only Wild & Scenic River
Apparently having legal access to over half of the Chattooga River, plus many tributaries, is not enough - the boater lobby wants MORE. ForestWatch is one of leading voices speaking out for balanced and responsible use of the river, recommending that the Forest Service maintain the current prohibition on boating on the Upper Chattooga, a ban in place for over 30 years.
One of the big issues here is user conflict. People visit the national forests to engage in many different types of activities. Some use the forest as a place to hike or picnic, some to fish or hunt, others to ride mountain bikes or boat or for birding and nature photography and still others to study plants or animals . Many of these "uses" of the forest are incompatible, and if allowed to happen in the same area, often result in conflict that requires the intervention of law enforcement staff. This is why the U.S. Forest Service wisely tends to “zone” the forest, setting aside specific areas for compatible uses. The Forest Service does not have the law enforcement budget to deal with increasing user conflicts. The agency’s own Environmental Assessment anticipates this to be a big problem if boating is allowed on the Upper Chattooga. Conflicts between anglers and boaters or hunters and boaters are very likely.
Additional reasons why ForestWatch is against the proposal to allow boating on the Upper Chattooga:
- The proposal does not appear to ensure the quiet and solitude and other “outstandingly remarkable values” required by law to be protected over all other considerations in the Ellicott Rock Wilderness.
- The proposal is geared toward the preferences of boaters, but ignores the needs of the many people who visit the Upper Chattooga corridor for traditional pastimes like swimming, hiking, camping, hunting, botanizing, nature photography and “getting away from it all" for that rarest of experiences, solitude.
- The proposal does not clearly commit the law enforcement and resource protection personnel necessary to regulate a new, intrusive form of recreation and to educate the public about the new rules in this part of the river corridor.
- The proposal does not consistently and properly prevent the removal from the river of large woody debris (which is essential to the natural functioning of the river and the health of fish and other aquatic life; boaters like to cut these down trees out of the way); nor does it protect the various sensitive native plant species also found in the corridor.
Want more info?
1. Click here to see the official comments submitted by ForestWatch's legal team
2. Click here for the Forest Service's Environmental Assessment and other official documents
3. Click here to see the ForestWatch Action Alert on this issue (Thanks to everyone who commented!)
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