USFS Turning the Chattooga into the Ocoee? (GA/SC)
The Forest Service has announced that they are cutting all names from their Chattooga mailing list that do not contact them anew. This means that even if you are currently on their list, your name will be cut unless you take the actions described below.
If you care about the Chattooga's Wild and Scenic river gorge and surrounding forests, it is vitally important for you to email the Sumter Forest Planning Team at sumterplan@yahoo.com. Be sure to supply the following information (bold) in your message. It would also be a huge help to our volunteer regional coordinator, Don Kinser, if you include the two phrases in italics with your message:
First Name:
Last Name:
Title (optional):
Organization (optional): "American Whitewater Member or Supporter"
Address:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Home Phone (optional):
Please send me information pertaining to the REVISION and AMENDMENT of the Sumter Plan.
Please include American Whitewater's proposal for reopening limited access to the Chattooga headwaters as the preferred alternative in the Forest Plan revision. As detailed in the proposal, boating use would be naturally limited by rainfall to a few days each year, will not have detectable impacts, and is entirely consistent with the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and Forest Service policies and management objectives.
Please reconsider the decision to allow multiple commercial shuttle permits on the Chattooga. At the very least, visitors using this service should be counted and managed within the commercial use allocation on the river.
You can also fax your request to 803-561-4004 or mail it to Sumter Planning Team, Attn. Mailing List, 4931 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29212-3530.
So, is your input important? Absolutely, positively, yes.
Already this year, our members and volunteers have successfully brought conservation and use issues on the Chattooga to the agency's attention through the comment process. Most notably, our members have successfully encouraged the Forest Service to change plans from importing a non-local bright white gravel to repair a riverside equestrian trail. Now the agency will use local gravel that will blend into and compliment the natural scenic beauty of the river corridor.
Your voice is also needed to help control Forest Service actions that may have the effect of turning use patterns in the wild and scenic corridor into an anything goes, high use, Ocoee-style experience.
In fact, the Forest authorized multiple new permits on the Chattooga for commercial shuttle services earlier this month. The purpose of these permits is to allow subtantially increased ducky and funyak rentals on the Chattooga. American Whitewater is very concerned about this decision because the Forest Service considers these rental users to be private boaters. This means that their increased use will add to the current private boater use counts and levels, which the agency has stated are near threshhold capacity limits. The problem is that the agency has stated that it is likely to require private boater permits in the near future if private boater use increases.
Further, though this action was recently included as an alternative in the draft River Plan Amendment 14 Revisions, the final environmental assessment has not yet been released. Thus, this action to authorize new shuttles was made prematurely and appears to have been made without final legal NEPA compliance.