Established in 2003, the Green River Access Fund rents the parking lot at the end of Gallimore road, which is used by Upper Green boaters as a take-out, and Narrows boaters as a put-in.

History of Parking, Access, Trail, and Release issues for the Green River. --- (5/18/07)

1980's --- Early explorers use Upper Green put-in. See this excellent 1990 period piece (AW Journal article) by Woody Callaway and Chris Koll.
1990's --- Use of the Ring's lot began when....late '90's?
1994 --- The State of NC considers purchase of portion of Gamelands from Duke Power (AW Journal article).
1999 --- Attempt to shut down Gallimore Road (AW Journal article).
2000 --- Death of a kayaker at Chief prompts discussion about access via Pulliam Creek Trail (Hendersonville Times article).
2003 --- $20 Key and $5 Day Parking with honor system (here's how it was described).
2003 --- NC WRC temporarily blocks access to Pullimam Creek Trail "due to erosion" (Hendersonville Times article).
2003 --- Fundraising campaign by American Whitewater begins to purchase lot and build access trail.
2003 --- NC WRC denies AW a new access trail (Hendersonville Times: story #1, story #2), foiling land purchase and permanent access.....(see below)
2004 --- $60 Key and $5 Day Parking with honor system
2005 --- $60 Key and $5 Day Parking with honor system
2006 --- $60 Key and $5 Day Parking with honor system
2006 --- Zimmer Orthopedics donates $10,000 to Green River Access in memory of Daniel DeLaVergne (AW Journal article).
2007 --- $60 Key only, honor system abandoned
2007 --- Discussions about paddler input to improve the releases from Tuxedo Hydro.....(see below).
2008 --- $60 Key
2009 --- $60 Key
2010 --- $60 Key
2011 --- $60 Key
2012 --- $60 Key
2013 --- $60 Key
2013 --- Open meeting held by NCWRC to collect public input about Gamelands management...(see below).
2014 --- $60 Key
2015 --- $60 Key
2016 --- $60 Key
2017 --- $60 Key
2018 --- Gamelands staff re-do the roadbed and trail from Gallimore down to the river.
2018 --- Lyrics to a hit song found in parking lot following July 4th gate smashing.
2018 --- $60 Key, (see main page for current details).

August 2013 meeting about NCWRC Long Range Management Plan:

On August 1st, 2013, the NCWRC held a public meeting to collect input towards a future management plan for the Green River Gamelands. It was one of seven meetings around the state for various publicly owned lands designated Gamelands, and was held at the Blue Ridge Community College. There were 105 people attending, mostly hunters and fishermen, a lot of NCWRC employees, as well as a smattering of kayakers (well-dressed and polite members of the Green River elite, essentially). This article in BlueRidgeNow describes the meeting

The meeting was organized around an introductory powerpoint presentation describing the mission and context of state Gamelands, including some excellent maps and history of the Green River property. Then there was a break-out into small groups for input and feedback. There was talk about better trail maintenance, the possibility of a user fee for all users (paddlers included) and ..... and..... and....

Once a draft of the plan is completed and released (June/July 2014 is now the word) by the NCWRC, there will be a 30 day public comment period. Once that happens it will be plastered around the interwebs on Facebook as well as here on this page. Other details to come,,,,,,,

American Whitewater has made public input into the process, via this letter in a pdf file from Kevin Colburn, AW's National Stewardship Director. Several area paddlers have written independently as well, and others who would like to comment prior to the NCWRC draft release may send their input here: gamelandplan@ncwildlife.org with "Green River" in the subject line.

Possibility of Scheduled Releases.... (2007)

On June 29th, 2007, there was a meeting at Green River Adventures in Saluda. The meeting was to discuss possible scheduled recreational flows on the Green, or to find ways to improve the existing situation, instead of the way it is now ("determined daily", lots of 60% flows running overnight, etc.). The meeting was called by Sara Bell of GRA and Woody Callaway of Liquid Logic, and all interested were invited to attend. You can read some background in this snippet from the Tryon Bulletin (6/19), and in this Boatertalk thread (6/20). The hope was (is) to find common ground with those in the fishing community, the local business community, and the private paddlers as an approach to Duke Power is undertaken that would benefit all groups.

A synopsis of the meeting written by Harrison Metzger can be found in this Boatertalk thread posted the next day (6/30), and extended commentary by other paddlers follows. In short, the group of 40+ present at the meeting had near unanimity in going forward with requesting no nighttime releases and less/no 60% releases. Additionally, many in the group had little interest in scheduled Thursday-Sunday releases with guaranteed water for those days. If there are no nighttime releases and also no or very limited 60% days, then the point may be moot as the Green will be running most days anyway in a normal year. Many private paddlers, particularly those living several hours away from the Green, would also like more consistent announcements the day before at the least and would be happy with some sense of a "schedule". Both the fishermen and women, and GRA, can live with what the paddlers at the meeting spoke for, and most people left the meeting feeling positive about being on the same team as the anglers.

I'm not calling it fine literature, but the discussion continued on Boatertalk --- and in the interests of being able to access the various points of view in the future, here's another thread (7/6), and another (7/9).....

Beginning in late summer 2007, as a direct result of GRA contacts with Duke Energy, the Tuxedo Plant essentially stopped the round-the-clock 60% releases on weekends, and began a fairly consistent Fri-Mon. 7a.m.-11a.m. schedule. Come November, they changed back to mostly weekday morning releases to better match peak power demand.

Throughout the historic drought of 2007, the level of Lake Summit was maintained with Tuxedo running at 100% for only 16-20 hours/week in the Summer, and closer to 25 hours/week through the Fall and early Winter. In a "normal" year, the boys at Tuxedo spin the turbines far more often.

AW Statement in 2003 (by Sutton Bacon) after the failing attempt to gain access from a nearby lot.

Current access to the middle portion of the Green River Gamelands, including access out of the Upper Green and entrance into the Green Narrows, sits entirely on private property rented by the boating community for parking use. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission maintains only two parking spaces with ready access to the middle portion of the 10,000-acre Green River Gamelands, and those spaces are explicitly reserved for hunters and fishermen. Access to Green River Gorge at its middle is popular with whitewater recreationalists as a takeout for paddlers on the Upper Green and the put-in for paddlers of the Narrows. Although Narrows boaters can paddle through the Upper Green to proceed into the Narrows, Upper Green paddlers do not have another takeout option.

American Whitewater prefers public access solutions to private river access points. When land acquisition are possible to provide for public access, AW attempts to work with local, state, and federal officials to make free, open access a reality. Thus was the case on the Green in 2003. American Whitewater identified a parcel of unrestricted land sharing a long border with the Green River Gamelands and raised enough funds through generous donations from Green paddlers to purchase a 2-acre access point to be transferred to the State of North Carolina Parks and Recreation, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, or Henderson County to provide for management of the site. American Whitewater finalized negotiations with the landowner and AW's offer was accepted.

At the very beginning of the land acquisition, AW consulted with NCWRC to allow for rudimentary trail maintenance on an existing logging road and permission to construct a simple switchback in the trail (with the help from the professional trailbuilders from the Dupont State Forest Trailbuilding School) to connect the overgrown logging road running from the property with the existing access trail. Nearing the end of AW's fundraising phase, on April 30th, 2003 American Whitewater received notice from local North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission representatives prohibiting access to the Green River Gamelands from AW's proposed site. This occurred after what seemed to be a productive meeting with WRC on-site, during which, American Whitewater was optimistic that WRC would allow a small amount of structural maintenance on the existing logging road from the proposed site into the Gamelands.

AW appealed to the very highest levels on the State of North Carolina to no avail, including a generous offer to help reconstruct the naturally-eroding Pulliam Creek emergency access trail out of the heart of the Green River Narrows, but ultimately, WRC's decision did not change. That decision effectively eliminated the opportunity to provide permanent public access to the Green River and the Green River Gamelands from this site. American Whitewater remains deeply troubled by WRC's decision because it reinforces its policy of limiting recreational use of the public lands it manages. While the Green River Gamelands was purchased with taxpayer money through the Natural Heritage Trust Fund, it is managed with funding from hunters and fishermen. American Whitewater works closely and cooperatively with the Wildlife Resources Commission on many projects throughout the state, but we feel that its single-focus management of the public lands it oversees is a violation of the public trust and an inappropriate use of public resources and taxpayer funding.

AW volunteers and staff worked tirelessly and expended hundreds upon hundreds of hours toward providing permanent access to the Green River. Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of the paddling community, American Whitewater raised more than enough money to purchase the small parcel necessary for an access point. However, the late April decision by the WRC undercut our efforts to secure the site in perpetuity and develop a public access point to the Green River Gamelands for all users: hikers, fishermen, hunters, bird watchers, and boaters.

It was made clear to American Whitewater that the only "acceptable" users of the Green River Gamelands were the handful of hunters and fishermen that visit there annually, not the thousands of boaters that float on the Green's majestic waters. Their decision forced AW to abandon the land acquisition, and American Whitewater refunded the donations raised from its membership, applied them toward conservation and access areas in the South (and elsewhere as directed by the donor), or earmarked them to the current parking arrangement.

AW continues to thank those individuals who made financial gifts, or gifts of their time and expertise, to help preserve Green River access. Thank you for believing in us and we hope that you will continue to support AW as it works to protect and enhance responsible river access around the country.

Here's a pdf file of AW's trail proposal relating to the land purchase:

http://www.americanwhitewater.org/resources/repository/AW%20Proposal%20for%20Green%20River%20Access.pdf

Groove Tube, main line

Description

Author

Subject