American Whitewater appealed the 2004 forest plan for the Sumter National Forest (SNF) that renewed the boating ban on the Wild and Scenic upper Chattooga River. In April of 2005 the Washington Office of the USFS agreed with AW that there was no basis for a ban on boating or any limits to any users of the forest. The Washington Office gave the Sumter National Forest 2 years to carry out a User Capacity Analysis and reach a new decision on the management of all uses in the Chattooga Corridor. It took the SNF 18 months to determine a plan for carrying out the User Capacity Analysis. Their plan carried a price tag of over 1 million dollars, and contained study flaws that would needlessly delay the process and needlessly collect too little data to form the basis for any future decisions. AW filed comments on the plan, which were not addressed in any way.

The two year window passed as of April of 2007, and the User Capacity Analysis reports are being issued between March and May of 2007. The study was carried out but allowed only 10 individuals to paddle only part of the Chattooga Headwaters on only 2 days as part of an expert panel. No SNF employee or consultant even set foot on the upper 1.7 miles of the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River, and the reach will apparently not be studied in any way.

The study reports range in quality and accuracy. AW is filing detailed comments on each of these reports and will be filing comments on the overarching report expected early this summer. Once the final overarching report is issued the SNF will launch a decision making process that will include public involvement.

A new decison is expected sometime in the winter of 2007/2008 - at least 6 months late.

• Sign up to be a participant in the plan Email your completed forms to lyaukey@louisberger.com.
• Berger Presentation from 7/27 meeting
• Forest Service Presentation from 7/27 meeting
• Confluence Research and Consulting Presentation from 7/27 meeting
  

• 5/11/05: Study Plan Recommendation
  
• 08/02/06: Comments on the Outline of the USFS study plan
  
• 11/02/06: Comments on the finally released final study plan

• Expert Panel Report
• History Report
• Capacity Case Study Report
• Literature Review Report
• Preliminary Use Report
• Integrated Report

• 04/06/07Comments on the Expert Panel Report
  
• 04/04/07 Comments on the History Report
  
• 05/07/07 Comments on the Capacity Case Study Report
• 05/07/07 Comments on the Literature Review Report
• 07/03/07 Comments on the Integrated Report

On January 5th and 6th of 2007 a small group of paddlers made the first legal descent of the Chattooga River in over 30 years, as part of the User Capacity Analysis. Learn more about this historic descent here and for a first hand account read Don Kinser's Trip Report