Forest Service Supports Chattooga Trails (NC/SC/GA)
05/20/2015 - by Kevin Colburn
The Forest Service released their decision yesterday to formalize roughly 1.5 miles of existing undesignated trails and build less than 1000 feet of new trails to improve access to the Upper Chattooga River for all visitors. This step is well within their normal range of management actions and begins the process of bringing the trail system in the river corridor up to modern standards.
Comment Opportunity on Upper Chattooga Access
10/28/2014 - by Kevin Colburn
The Forest Service is seeking comments on their Environmental Assessment and proposal to upgrade and designate the trails and access areas that paddlers and others use to access the Wild and Scenic Upper Chattooga River. Comments are due by midnight, November 7, 2014. Your comments can help encourage high quality and sustainable hiking and paddling opportunities, and help clarify that no permit should be requied to paddle the Chattooga River upstream of Green Creek.
Chattooga Court Hearing Marks Progress for Paddlers
12/06/2012 - by Kevin Colburn
Yesterday a hearing was held in US District Court in South Carolina regarding the Forest Service's illegal bans and severe limits on paddling 21 miles of the Wild and Scenic upper Chattooga River. The Judge ruled in favor of conservation-oriented paddlers and charted a schedule to resolve the case early next year.
Upper Chattooga Rules Shared - Paddling to Start Soon!
11/27/2012 - by Kevin Colburn
The first season of legal paddling on portions of the Wild and Scenic upper Chattooga River since 1976 is nearly upon us. The Forest Service will begin allowing paddling on December 1, 2012, through April 30, 2013, under various restrictions. This article will help you jump through all the hoops and enjoy the river!
Chattooga USFS Consideration Done – River to Partially Open This Winter
08/23/2012 - by Kevin Colburn
A decision made earlier this month by the Washington Office of the US Forest Service officially ends the agency’s consideration of recreational management on the Wild and Scenic Upper Chattooga River. The decision marks the final Agency green light allowing the public to paddle a 15-mile portion of the Upper Chattooga River this winter for the first time in 36 years!
AW Responds to Chattooga Farmstead Proposal
06/13/2012 - by Kevin Colburn
In the midst of the controversial paddling ban and capacity consideration on the Wild and Scenic upper Chattooga River, the Forest Service is proposing to jointly develop a “farmstead” on the banks of the disputed section of river with a private non-profit partner organization. This proposed new use of the Wild and Scenic River Corridor, in a reach heavily stocked with non-native trout and deemed to have zero capacity to support floating, is raising eyebrows and drawing comments from many Chattooga River stakeholders.
Chattooga River Update - Some Boating Possibly Allowed Soon
03/16/2012 - by Kevin Colburn
It has been a big week for the management of the Chattooga River. The USFS released plans to allow paddling on a portion of the river beginning as early as this weekend if a laundry list of conditions are met. Conservation-oriented paddlers appealed the new decision that unlawfully limits paddling, and anti-paddling groups may request a stay in the coming days that if granted would prevent paddling. The mismanagement of the Chattooga is also likely to go to trial by year end.
Court Sides with Paddlers on Several Chattooga Issues
02/23/2012 - by Kevin Colburn
Two federal court decisions issued in recent days favor conservation-oriented paddlers and their efforts to require fair, legal, and protective management of the Wild and Scenic Upper Chattooga River. AW believes that the recent decisions by the court respect the interests of everyone involved. The decisions also represent another step towards restoration of paddlers’ long tradition of floating the Chattooga River.
Forest Service Proposes More Boating on Upper Chattooga
01/31/2012 - by Kevin Colburn
Today, the US Forest Service released their newest proposal regarding how to manage recreation on the Wild and Scenic Upper Chattooga River, where they currently maintain a controversial ban on paddling. The proposal would allow more paddling than has been proposed by the Forest Service in prior proposals as soon as March of this year. However, like previous proposals, the new proposal would limit whitewater paddling by stream reach, season, and flow, while imposing no such limits on all other similar visitors.
Conservation-Oriented Paddlers File Comments On Upper Chattooga
08/31/2011 - by Kevin Colburn
Yesterday, national and regional conservation-oriented paddling organizations submitted comments on the US Forest Service’s 489-page Environmental Assessment (EA) regarding recreation on the Wild and Scenic Upper Chattooga River. Also joining the comments were three individuals that enjoyed paddling the river prior to the controversial 1976 paddling ban.
Call for Chattooga River Comments
07/29/2011 - by Kevin Colburn
The Forest Service recently published a 500-page manifesto aimed at continuing the 35 year old ban on paddling the upper Chattooga. If you care about being able to enjoy rivers flowing through public lands, we ask that you submit a comment regarding the upper Chattooga River, and to call your political representative before the August 30, 2011 deadline.
Paddlers Secure Chattooga Conservation Outcomes, But Remain Severely Limited
07/15/2011 - by Kevin Colburn
Earlier today the US Forest Service released a Draft Environmental Assessment that proposes to continue denying the American public the simple right to float in canoes and kayaks down the Wild and Scenic Upper Chattooga River for most or all of the year depending on the section of river. While successful in advancing some of the paddling community’s conservation goals, paddlers remain singled out for inequitable and harsh limits based solely on the Agency’s unfounded belief that user conflicts would occur if boating were allowed.
New Chattooga Comment Opportunity and Video
12/20/2010 - by Kevin Colburn
The US Forest Service has announced yet another 45 day comment period regarding paddling on the
Upper Chattooga River (NC/SC/GA) and we encourage paddlers to read the USFS scoping letter and
offer any comments you may have. Also, as a special holiday treat we are pleased to bring
you some rare footage of paddling the Chattooga headwaters prior to the 1976 paddling ban.
Paddlers Succeed in Chattooga Hearing - Case Moves Ahead!
12/04/2010 - by Kevin Colburn
On December 2, 2010 United States District Judge J. Michelle Childs issued a decision regarding the mis-management of the Wild and Scenic upper Chattooga River. The decision confirms that conservation-oriented paddlers have a ripe and valid case against the US Forest Service, and the case will now proceed to trial.
Paddlers Get Their Day In Court on Chattooga
10/14/2010 - by Kevin Colburn
Yesterday, conservation-oriented paddlers presented their case against the US Forest Service regarding the agency's illegal paddling ban on 21 miles of the Wild and Scenic Chattooga River in a federal district court hearing. The judge heard roughly four hours of arguments and testimony, and stated that she would issue a decision at a later date.
Forest Service Announces More Chattooga Delays
06/08/2010 - by Kevin Colburn
The USFS announced today that they will further delay reaching a new decision on how to manage recreation on the Upper Chattooga. A 2009 decision was withdrawn shortly after its release, and the agency stated a new decision would be released early in the spring of 2010.
USFS Withdraws Chattooga Decisions and Analyses
12/22/2009 - by Kevin Colburn
Yesterday the US Forest Service “voluntarily withdrew” their decisions and analysis regarding their illegal ban on paddling the Wild and Scenic Upper Chattooga River. The decisions and analysis were under intense scrutiny in the administrative appeals process, and are currently being challenged in Federal Court. The step is just the most recent in 14 years of avoidance tactics employed by local decision-makers in the agency, and will create massive additional burdens for public participants in the process.
USFS Decides No Upper Chattooga Boating This Winter
10/30/2009 - by Kevin Colburn
Earlier this week the US Forest Service cancelled their plans to allow a paltry six days of paddling on one small section of the upper Chattooga River (NC/SC/GA) this winter. As it has been for 33 years, the entire Upper Chattooga River now remains banned to all canoeing and kayaking, while all other existing uses have no limits. Conservation-oriented paddlers have challenged the overarching agency decision to ban paddling on the Wild and Scenic Upper Chattooga River in court and in the administrative appeals process over the past two weeks.
Paddlers Take Chattooga Issue to Federal Court
10/15/2009 - by Kevin Colburn
Conservation-oriented kayakers and canoeists sought protection in federal court on Wednesday from an illegal decision by the United States Forest Service involving the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River. The USFS decision, which was the culmination of a 2004 administrative appeal by American Whitewater, makes it a federal crime for paddlers to float the northernmost 21 miles of the River and its tributaries except on a limited seven-mile section during 6 or fewer days per year.
AW Seeks to End Chattooga Delays (NC/SC/GA)
05/28/2009 - by Kevin Colburn
American Whitewater and our attorneys have been in contact with US Forest Service officials at the local, regional, and National level asking for prompt resolution of the mismanagement of the Chattooga, which has now been delayed over 2 years. The USFS has not set a new deadline for releasing their long overdue decision, nor shared a reason for the delays.