Yesterday, a group of river paddling organizations and individuals withdrew their appeal of a federal court decision involving canoeing and kayaking access on the Upper Chattooga Wild and Scenic River in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
The parties originally filed suit against the US Forest Service in 2006, based on a 2005 administrative appeal decision which found that a 30 year old ban on paddling the river was unjustified and violated laws including both the Wilderness Act and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, yet allowed the ban to continue throughout a two year study period.
A federal district court in Georgia dismissed the parties’ lawsuit at the outset, reasoning that the federal courts should not intervene until the Forest Service completes its two-year study and enters a new management decision. The court order assured the plaintiffs that “the courts will be open and willing to review their complaints” upon the issuance of a new management decision, expected in the fall of 2007.
Paul Sanford, Stewardship and Policy Director for the American Canoe Association, says paddling organizations are willing to go to court again to gain access to the Chattooga, but hopes that will not be necessary. “We expect Forest Service managers to base their decisions on science, and to comply with the agency’s own regulations. Those regulations require the agency to manage recreation appropriately, and to protect the river from harm. If the Forest Service does so, a new lawsuit will not be necessary.”
“By dismissing our lawsuit as untimely, the district court judge gave the Forest Service one more chance to do the right thing,” said American Whitewater’s Executive Director, Mark Singleton. “By withdrawing our appeal, we are giving them that same chance. We are setting aside our legal challenge so that we can work together with the Forest Service to bring nationally consistent river management to the Chattooga, which includes allowing paddling, for the first time in over thirty years.”
Despite dismissal of their lawsuit and the withdrawal of their appeal, American Whitewater and their co-plaintiffs view the case as a success. Kevin Colburn, AW’s National Stewardship Director, explains: “Our lawsuit strengthened the first environmental review of recreational user capacity on the Chattooga River in more than thirty years. The Forest Service now has the data it needs to appropriately manage hiking, camping, fishing, paddling, and other wilderness-compliant uses of the river corridor. We will now work with the Forest Service to make sure their new plan allows appropriate recreational enjoyment of this national treasure, while maintaining protections for the river.”
The US Forest Service plans to issue a report containing the results of the user capacity analysis this spring, followed by a public process aimed at helping them create a new management plan by this fall.
For more information on AW’s efforts on the Chattooga River please go to http://www.americanwhitewater.org/chattooga.