This Land, Your Land

Boating on the upper segment of the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River is on hold after the U.S. Forest Service issued a stay Monday while appeals of the boating decision are reviewed.

"The six appeals we received on this decision have raised a number of complex issues," Ken Arney, Deputy Regional Forester for the Southern Region and the appeal reviewing officer for this decision, says in a news release published today. "Granting Greenfire Law's stay request will allow a meaningful administrative appeal process to continue based on the merits of each appellant's issues."

"While the appeal process continues, status quo will be maintained on the river, which will delay a move the agency made less than two weeks ago to open the upper river to boaters," the news release says.

Greenfire Law requested on behalf of Georgia Forest Watch, the Sierra Club and Wilderness Watch that the decision to allow boating be put on hold.

The environmental groups say the decision violates environmental laws and would cause damage to water quality, soils, riverbank and solitude experienced by visitors to the Upper Chattooga River. Boaters argue they should have the same access to the river that everyone else has.

The northern reaches of the river are in the Nantahala National Forest in Jackson and Macon counties, North Carolina.

Environmentalists and boaters are squabbling after the U.S. Forest Service announced rules for boating on a stretch of the Chatooga River through the end of April, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports.

Three environmental groups — Georgia Forest Watch, the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club and Wilderness Watch — filed motions demanding the Forest Service stop letting boaters on the Upper Chattooga, a national wild and scenic river. (The northern reaches of the river are in the Nantahala National Forest in Jackson and Macon counties, North Carolina.)

The Forest Service released a notice Tuesday saying that beginning March 16 (Friday) boaters with permits may float the upper segment of the Chattooga River when flows are high enough.

Boating is allowed on the main stem of the upper segment of the Chattooga between the confluence of Green Creek in North Carolina and one-quarter mile downstream of the Lick Log Creek confluence in South Carolina from December 1 to April 30 when water levels are high enough.

Tuesday's news release restates policy that has existed since before the Forest Service announced in February that it had decided to continue a year-round ban on boating between Lick Log Creek and Georgia Highway 28.

"The basis of the environment group appeal is that the Forest Service decision violates environmental laws and would cause damage to water quality, soils, riverbank and solitude experienced by visitors to the Upper Chattooga River, which runs through the Ellicot Rock Wilderness," the Citizen-Times says.

Meanwhile, American Whitewater, a boater access and river conservation group based in Cullowhee, demanded immediate and total access to the 21 miles of the Upper Chattooga, “to the same extent that existing uses are allowed.”

The U.S. Forest Service announced its decision Tuesday to not allow boating on a disputed stretch of the Upper Chattooga River, a national wild and scenic river.

"Current management, or not boating, will be maintained year-round between Lick Log Creek and (Georgia) Hwy. 28, an area that includes the popular Delayed Harvest, a highly valued trout fishery," the three forest supervisors in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia have decided. (The northern reaches of the river are in the Nantahala National Forest in Jackson and Macon counties, North Carolina.)

To maintain the ban on boating in the northern section of the river has been the Forest Service's stated preference throughout the decision-making process, so the final ruling comes as no surprise.

"The agency’s decisions have been seven years in the making," the Forest Service news release says, "during which time many individuals and organizations haven’t always seen eye-to-eye on how to manage the upper segment of the Chattooga WSR."

The restricted area is approximately 20 miles of the river's total of 57 miles. For five of the 20 miles, the river passes through the 8,274-acre Ellicott Rock Wilderness, which is protected under the Wilderness Act.

The Forest Service will continue to allow boating in the winter and early spring between Green Creek in North Carolina and Lick Log Creek in South Carolina.

"Other actions include maintaining the current prohibition on commercial boating and boating in the tributaries on the upper segment; preventing large woody debris removal without agency approval; and redesigning, relocating or closing some trails and campsites and maintaining sustainable ones," the release says. "In addition, the agency will continue to monitor visitor use and its impacts."

The 496-page decision and it supporting and background documents are available here.

The U.S. Forest Service has extended its comment period on a plan to allow some rafting on the Chatooga River, a National Wild and Scenic River.

Comments will be accepted though August 30; the previous end-date was August 15.

The USFS's preferred plan drawn from the environmental assessment for managing recreation uses on the upper segment of the Chattooga, which partly lies in southwest North Carolina, calls for "high-quality" whitewater rafting in the winter but keeping the river clear of watercraft the rest of the year.

We discuss the plan more fully and link to the environmental assessment below.

Comments on the plan should go to: comments-southern-francismarion-sumter@fs.fed.us or to Comments on the Upper Chattooga EA, c/o USDA Forest Service Supervisor’s Office, 4931 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29212.