Chattooga Headwaters Decision Will Lift Ban!

"After careful consideration of the record...I am reversing the Regional Forester's decision to continue to exclude boating on the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River above Highway 28"

     -USFS Chief Dale Bosworth

The Upper 21 miles of the Chattooga River will soon be legal to paddle for the first time in nearly 30 years!

On Thursday, April 28th, 2005, the Chief of the US Forest Service decided that there was no justification whatsoever for the ban on paddling the upper 21 miles of the Chattooga River.  The decision was issued in response to a thoughtfully prepared appeal of the ban that was written by a team of American Whitewater staff, volunteers, and an incredible team of attorneys from Patton Boggs.  The appeal was filed one year ago and focused on legal, regulatory, ethical, and scientific arguments.  The appeal sought to have whitewater boaters treated equally with other recreational users.

The Chief's decision agreed with American Whitewater that there is no defensible justification for the boating ban, and further noted that the boating ban was "not consistent with the direction in Section 10 (a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act or Sections 2(a) and 4(b) of the Wilderness Act or agency regulations for implementing these acts."

The Chief then ordered the Sumter National Forest to collaborate with the paddling community and other user groups to study the user capacity of the area for the next two years, after which they must issue new regulations for the area.  The Chief stated that any use limitations must "ensure that all potential users have a fair and equitable chance to obtain access to the river."  While the decision does not explicitly require the river to be opened to boating, it dismisses the SNF's historical arguments for the ban as invalid - and offers no possible scenario under which a ban would be legal. 

Unfortunately, paddlers may be denied access to the Chattooga for the next two years.  The Chief's decision maintained the boating ban for the two year study period, yet noted that the Sumter National Forest may allow paddling for the purposes of study.  American Whitewater feels that user capacity cannot be adequately studied with one user group artificially absent from the river, and we will thus be advocating for a study plan that allows paddling throughout the study period.  We now look forward to a positive collaborative relationship with the Sumter National Forest.

American Whitewater asks that paddlers respect the interim river closure and allow us to negotiate a collaborative study plan that allows paddling.  Once paddling is allowed we encourage paddlers to take extra care to responsibly share the river and to leave no trace.  For now, the river is not yet legal to paddle.

American Whitewater is proud to have brought fair and equitable management to the fabled Chattooga River.  With this nationally significant decision, the USFS has strongly supported our right to enjoy our nation's wild rivers and reaffirmed that we share these rights equally with other users.  

Read the Decision:  http://www.americanwhitewater.org/resources/repository/Chattooga.Appeal.Decision.doc

For more background and to read our appeal, view the following link:  http://www.americanwhitewater.org/archive/article/1127/

We would like to acknowledge the following team of people and organizations that made our appeal such a great success.  This was truly a wonderful core team to work with, and each member was absolutely invaluable.

AW Staff 

• Kevin Colburn:  Staff lead;  Developed arguments focused on WSR Act and Wilderness Act, user conflict analysis, environmental issues, and characterizing boating use.
• Jason Robertson:  Laid groundwork for appeal through several years of negotiations and development of critical arguments and proposals.

AW Volunteer Regional Coordinators

• Charlene Coleman:  Provided safety analysis, communications with the paddling community, and networking with other stakeholders 
• Don Kinser:  Provided local knowledge, FOIA Review, communication with the AW Board of Directors, and negotiation assistance. 

Patton Boggs Volunteer Legal Team

• Nathan Galbreath:  Lead Attorney; developed and drove strategy, led negotiations, developed caselaw and regulatory/legislative arguments, organized appeal and appeal process.  Nathan is our hero.
• John Austin:  Provided big picture strategic advice, negotiations support, and national level assistance.
• Eric Olsen:  Provided national perspective and strategic advice.

AW Affiliate Assitance

• Georgia Canoeing Association:  The GCA generously funded the hard costs of the Patton Boggs team. 

THANK YOU to the team and to all of our members who made this possible!

THANK YOU to USFS Chief Dale Bosworth and the many USFS resource experts that analyzed our appeal!