Your help is needed now, please read on….
Sadly, the recently released Record of Decision, final environmental impact statement and new Sumter Forest Plan did not incorporate American Whitewater’s comments submitted in early July 2003. The Record of Decision (ROD) is a plan that will govern how the National Forests bordering the Chattooga River will be managed for the next 10-15 years! Importantly, the ROD also determines whether boaters will be able to float the headwaters section of the Chattooga River during that same time period.
AW submitted comments to the Forest Service in connection with the ROD. AW’s comments suggested a workable solution for managing the Chattooga River that would restore boaters’ access to the headwaters section, while maintaining and preserving the cherished wilderness characteristics of the river and surrounding areas.
Unexplainably, the ROD ignored AW’s comments and continued to exclude boaters, offering no rational basis for the exclusion. Boaters, who arguably have the least environmental impact of any recreational user group, are the first and only such group to be completely banned from a section of the Chattooga River (or any other section of river managed by the Forest Service in the United States). This decision is particularly painful given that AW has been in an ongoing dialogue with local Forest Service officials for nearly a decade in an effort to restore the access boaters have traditionally enjoyed to this pristine wilderness—access that dates back to before the Chattooga was designated as a Wild and Scenic River in 1974.
Recreational boaters are left with only two options: (1) quietly accept the fact that for the next 10-15 years, boaters will continue to be unfairly and irrationally denied access to one of our nation’s most picturesque stretches of whitewater; or (2) formally appeal the ROD to the Chief of the Forest Service in Washington, D.C.
The answer is obvious. We must appeal the ROD because it sets a dangerous precedent. This precedent could be used to unreasonably deny floating use on other rivers and streams throughout the country. We must not let this decision stand.
We are pleased to announce that the prominent Washington, D.C. based law firm of Patton Boggs has agreed to represent American Whitewater in our appeal efforts on a pro bono basis.
Nathan Galbreath, an AW member and attorney in Patton Boggs’ Dallas office will coordinate Patton Boggs’ efforts in the matter. Nathan spent several years in the Southeast and grew up paddling the Chattooga River. Nathan is supported by several key experts in Patton Boggs’ Washington, D.C. office. AW could not have asked for a better legal team and we are thrilled that Patton Boggs has embraced this matter with such enthusiasm.
The deadline for the appeal is April 29, 2004. Given the short deadline, we are already working diligently on a Notice of Appeal. We remain hopeful, however, that we can work together with the Forest Service to resolve this issue before the appeal deadline so that no formal appeal need be filed.
AW needs your help! Patton Boggs is providing the legal work as a public service; however, AW must raise funds to cover our attorneys’ out-of-pocket expenses associated with the appeal effort: filing fees, phone charges, postage, etc.
If you love the Chattooga and want to help insure AW’s efforts to open the Chattooga headwaters to canoeing and kayaking, here is how you can donate:
Go to http://www.americanwhitewater.org/donate/
Fill in the requested information and check the ‘access’ button. In the ‘Comments’ Field write ‘Forest Service Appeal.’
P.S. Please help our effort to establish boaters’ rights to use our Wild and Scenic rivers with a generous gift. If you send a gift of $100 or more you’ll join us at the Ender Club Level and we will send a 2004 Ender Club t-shirt as a ‘thank you.’