U.S. Forest Service issues stay on boating decision for upper Chattooga River

The implementation of policy changes that allow limited boating on the upper Chattooga River will be postponed pending the outcome of legal appeals, the U.S. Forest Service announced.

The Southern Region of the Forest Service granted a request for a stay by Georgia Forest Watch on Oct. 26, said Stephanie Johnson, public affairs director for the Forest Service’s Southern Region office in Atlanta.

The conservation group is one of five parties appealing the Forest Service’s decision.

“This means the status quo is preserved on the river until a decision is finalized on each of the five appeals, expected in spring 2010,” Johnson said.

Kayakers had been banned from using the upper part of the river, but in August the Forest Service announced a decision allowing them limited use. Boating would be allowed from Norton Mill Creek in North Carolina south to Burrells Ford Bridge in South Carolina, about a seven-mile stretch. But it could be used only between Dec. 1 and March 1, according to Forest Service officials.

Georgia Forest Watch officials praised the Forest Service’s granting of the stay and urged that the appeals serve to reverse the August decision.

“We urge all interested hikers, picnickers, bird watchers, photographers, anglers, hunters, and lovers of this wild, backcountry area to urge the Forest Service to now closely review the ForestWatch appeal and consider granting its proposal to continue current “zoning” on the Upper Chattooga,” said Wayne Jenkins, Georgia Forest Watch’s executive director, and Joseph Gatins, the group’s district leader for the Chattooga River Ranger District, said in a release.

“Everyone should understand that this administrative battle over these 21 miles of wild, backcountry river is far from over,” said Jenkins and Gatins. “Of the five parties appealing the Forest Service decision to try to open the area to boating, only Georgia ForestWatch steadfastly has stuck to the position that the agency should continue its 30-plus-year prohibition on boating in this pristine area of national forestlands.”

American Whitewater, American Canoe Association, Atlanta Whitewater Club, Georgia Canoeing Association, and Western Carolina Paddlers had all filed requests on behalf of their members that Georgia Forest Watch’s request be denied.

On Oct. 29, the five groups filed a request with the Forest Service that the implementation of any float prohibitions on the Chattooga contained in the August decision that allowed partial use.

American Whitewater and the other groups, along with three individuals, filed the lawsuit Oct. 15 in U.S. District Court in Greenville to challenge the Forest Service’s August decision.

The lawsuit is the latest battle in a nearly five-year fight over how the river can be used. Kayakers and canoeists want to use the northernmost 21 miles of the river for boating, but fishermen and hikers and have complained that boating would ruin the fishing and hiking experience along the upper stretch of the river.

The river is designated as the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River and is managed by the Forest Service. The service took two years to analyze uses of the river and received more than 3,000 comments during a 45-day public comment period before announcing its August decision.