To the Editor:

Thank you for giving advance notice about the Forest Service meeting in Highlands two weeks ago and such generally fair and comprehensive coverage to the agency’s study of whether kayaks, canoes, tubes or any manner of hand-powered boats should be permitted on the 21 miles of the Upper Chattooga river from Slide Rock in Grimshawes down to the Route 28 Bridge.

More than 100 area residents skipped dinnertime to attend the meeting, testament to how important the area’s recreation and conservation communities believe this topic to be. It was clear that many in the audience believe the Forest Service should continue to zone these wild and pristine headwaters so as to prohibit boating, as has been the practice for the past 30 years. (Boating of almost all types is regulated and allowed on the 36 miles of the Chattooga below Route 28.)

Unfortunately for those taking either side of this controversial issue, Forest Service personnel, under the divisive format adopted for the meeting, refused to answer any general questions from the public. Rather, folks were shunted off to separate “break-out tables” to try to get answers to the many pressing questions raised by the study.

So, there is yet no cogent and comprehensive rationale given for why the federal government is even considering the idea of permitting some limited boating tests on this part of the river, or how it will protect the Wild and Scenic Chattooga River corridor during such tests. (The whitewater kayak and canoe lobbies are pushing hard for these tests. They are also pushing their case in most unreasonable fashion in a federal court lawsuit filed in Gainesville, Georgia, in hopes of opening the Upper Chattooga to boating immediately without further study.)

What is clear is that American taxpayers, according to the Forest Service’s own figures, are going to spend more than $1.3 million on the study, with a goodly amount of this public money going to consulting firms that are concentrating their reviews on possible use of the river by boaters and anglers, primarily.

The forest agency, it turns out, also will accept some help from the general public, i.e., all those local hikers, hunters, bird watchers, photographers, swimmers, students, researchers and conservationists who also enjoy and cherish this fragile and wild resource. In particular, the agency wants the public’s help over the next 12 months in documenting use and abuse of the corridor (counts of vehicles at certain favorite spots, location of resource damage, number of encounters with other members of the public, etc.)

But your readers must act promptly to register to do this, by Aug. 15. This can be accomplished by calling the Highlands Ranger District office, 828.526.3765, or by contacting the study’s project coordinator, John Cleeves, at jcleeves@fs.fed.us, or by accessing the Forest Service Website at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/fms/.

Please also contact the Forest Service personnel today to give them a piece of your mind on this important issue.

Joseph Gatins
Satolah, Ga.