Last week Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker from Tennessee introduced the Tennessee Wilderness Act of 2010.  This bill would protect roughly 20,000 acres of some of Tennessee's wildest lands. Most notably for paddlers the bill would protect the entire Upper Bald River Watershed, a remote and challenging tributary of the Tellico River.  In addition the bill would protect streams in the Joyce Kilmer Slickrock Addition Wilderness Study Area which flow into Claderwood Reservoir just downstream of the Cheoah River. 

Wilderness designation assures that paddlers will always have truly wild rivers to explore by boat. In addition, designations protect the water quality, fish, and wildlife that we enjoy downstream and beyond Wilderness boundaries.   

The effort to get this bill introduced was lead in large part by TN Wild.  American Whitewater endorsed the legislation late last year (See letter to the right of this article).  We will be letting paddlers know how to support this legislation as it reaches critical phases on its way to becoming a law.  We would like to officially thank Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker for introducing this legislation.