This Land, Your Land

The U.S. Forest Service said Monday it was withdrawing its decisions to allow boats on the upper Chattooga River, a National Wild and Scenic River, a news release from the Forest Service says.

"Effective immediately, the three national forests in South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina [Sumter, Chattahoochee and Nantahala, respectively] have withdrawn their decisions to allow for additional analysis,” said Liz Agpaoa, regional forester for the USDA Forest Service, Southern Region. “Once the analysis is complete, the forests intend to issue three new decisions, probably in early spring.”

In August, the Forest Service decided to allow kayakers on the river between December 1 and March 1 from Norton Mill Creek in North Carolina south to Burrells Ford Bridge in South Carolina, about a seven-mile stretch. Five parties, including Georgia Forest Watch, appealed the decision, and The Southern Region of the Forest Service granted the request for a stay on October 26.

During the appeal process, the Forest Service discovered some inconsistencies between various components of the decision documents, Paul Bradley, forest supervisor of the Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests, says in the release. While none of the appellants raised these inconsistencies in their appeals, the Forest Service decided to voluntarily withdraw the decisions.

The river is designated as the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River and is managed by the Forest Service. The service took two years to analyze uses of the river and received more than 3,000 comments during a 45-day public comment period before announcing its August decision, the Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail said in November.

Georgia Forest Watch summarizes the boating proposal recommended by the Forest Service as:

* Boating would be permitted annually in hard boats or inflatable kayaks between December 1 and March 1, when water levels “approximately” exceed 450 cubic feet per second at the Burrell’s Ford Bridge gauge.

* Boating permitted only between the confluence of the river with Norton Mill Creek and Burrell’s Ford Bridge, with put-ins only permitted at Norton Mill Creek and Bull Pen Bridge and take-out only at Bull Pen Bridge or Burrell’s Ford Bridge.

* Boater group sizes limited to six boaters per group, with a minimum of two craft per group.

* No commercial guided boating or shuttles would be permitted. No boating permitted on Upper Chattooga tributaries.

"Boating has been excluded from the Upper River and allowed in the Lower Corridor as the result of a compromise made more than three decades ago," Georgia Forest Watch says. "The effects of the different management approaches could not be more evident. The Upper Chattooga is a place of amazing natural beauty and solitude. The lower Chattooga shows the wear and tear of phenomenal popularity and, for anyone seeking natural solitude, feels more like an amusement park ride on busy Saturdays. Now boaters want to upset the compromise and force the whole river to be managed more like the Lower Corridor."