August 2011 Wilderness Watch Guardian:
WW Weighs In—Upper Chattooga Wild & Scenic River

Two major conservation groups file opposition to Chattooga River proposal
Independent Mail
By Ray Chandler/Special to Independent Mail
September 5, 2011

LONG CREEK — Two major conservation groups, one regional and one national, have weighed in against the U.S. Forest Service proposal to expand boating access on the upper Chattooga River.

Georgia ForestWatch of Ellijay, Ga., and Wilderness Watch of Missoula, Mont., have filed a 25-page position paper outlining why the groups believe the upper Chattooga should remain closed to canoeists, rafters and kayakers.

”This zoning has worked well to preserve the solitude and wilderness characteristics of a pristine river corridor for more than 35 years,” said Wayne Jenkins, executive director of Georgia ForestWatch. “We see no reason to open it up for the sake of a few kayakers who already have rights to plenty of whitewater in this region.”

Kevin Colburn, national stewardship director of American Whitewater, has praised aspects of the current Forest Service proposal, such as plans improve trails and campsites, set capacities for visitors and monitor conditions of the river. But Colburn labeled the proposal an overall setback for canoeists, kayakers and rafters who want more access to the river.

“Paddlers remain singled out for inequitable and harsh limits based solely on the unfounded belief that user conflicts would occur if boating were allowed,” Colburn said.

George Nickas, executive director of Wilderness Watch, said the restriction was essential to protecting areas of the upper river considered near-pristine, such as the Ellicott Rock Wilderness.
”We do not believe that adding yet another use to an already pressured wild area is an appropriate solution,” Nickas said in a prepared statement.

Other groups also have raised objections to the Forest Service proposal, including the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club; Friends of Georgia; the Highlands (N.C.) Biological Station of the University of North Carolina and its affiliated Highlands Biological Foundation; the Jackson-Macon Conservation Alliance, concerned with the Chattooga headwaters in Highlands and Cashiers, N.C.; and the Rabun County, Ga.-based Chattooga Conservancy.

”A bedrock principle of wildlands management is: Too much access kills wildness,” said Buzz Williams, the Chattooga Conservancy’s executive director, explaining his group’s opposition.

The objections are a response to a request for comments by the Forest Service issued July 15, the same time as the environmental assessment regarding the agency’s preferred option for allowing boating access to the upper Chattooga. An initial deadline of Aug. 15 for comments was extended to Aug. 30.

The option selected will improve campsites and trails but also set visitor capacities, according to Paul Bradley, forest supervisor of the Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests.

The Forest Service proposal would open 16.5 miles of the Chattooga’s headwaters to boaters for three months of the year. The plan would permit boating from Green Creek to Lick Log Creek, a stretch of the river that goes through the Chattooga Cliffs area, Ellicott Rock Wilderness and Rock Gorge backcountry.

The prospect of new access trails into preserved areas has also drawn criticism by conservationists.

The Chattooga Cliffs reach, where the new access would be built, is “the most biologically rich and least visited area left” in the 57-mile Chattooga National Wild and Scenic River corridor, Williams said.

The Forest Service proposal estimates that conditions would allow nine days of boating use on the river, spread over two six-week periods in the winter and over two sections of the river. The uppermost and lowermost stretches of the river would be excluded.

That proposal for recreational access comes out of years of wrangling between the agency, conservationists and whitewater boating enthusiasts.

A 2009 decision would have allowed boating from Norton Mill Creek in North Carolina south to Burrells Ford Bridge in South Carolina, a stretch of about 7 miles, but only between Dec. 1 and March 1. That was appealed by five different parties.

Georgia ForestWatch reacted to the 2009 decision by going to court to seek a stay in the Forest Service plans to open any of the upper river.

All positions by all interested parties will weigh in the final decision on the issue, Bradley said.

“Depending on the information we receive,” he said, “we could modify the (environmental assessment), change some elements of our preferred alternative, or choose a different alternative altogether when we make our final decision later this year.”