On Friday, September 28th, Kevin Colburn (American Whitewater’s Eastern Conservation and Access Associate) participated in a meeting with members of TVA’s Regional Resource Stewardship Council (RRSC), local outfitters, the USFS and other Upper Ocoee stakeholders. This meeting was set up as the result of Kevin attending and speaking at the last RRSC meeting in Guntersville Alabama. The meeting was an informal opportunity for stakeholders to voice their concerns with the Integrated River Management Subcommittee of the RRSC and for the members of that subcommittee to decide whether the Upper Ocoee was an issue that they should address.
This meeting used the momentum and information gathered at the Ocoee Symposium held in May to share with the RRSC how incredibly important the Upper Ocoee is. The members of the RRSC that attended the meeting quickly grasped this complex issue and we moved forward to brainstorming potential solutions and outlining a process by which the RRSC will address the issue. American Whitewater will be there to provide information and comments at subsequent meetings of the RRSC. Hopefully, our concerns will go all the way to the board of TVA in the form of a solution or list of alternatives fully backed by all the stakeholders and the RRSC.
This meeting was a big success! We have begun a process that could lead us to an Upper Ocoee River with water flowing through it. Kevin even went rafting with a couple members of the RRSC the next day on the Upper and Middle Ocoee!