Chattooga River & National Forest Planning
The following is a reprint of a submission to the AWC website:
From Don Kinser, American Whitewater:
Dear River Enthusiast,
Recently American Whitewater has asked for your help in the fight to gain boating access to the Chattooga Headwaters. In fact many of you helped during the November 1999 Tallulah releases and in the last month by writing letters to the Forest Service. To those of you who did - Thanks!
Finally, after three years, the Forest Service has formally proposed several amendments to the boating regulations on the Chattooga and we urgently need you help again. The deadline for comments to the forest service is August 16, 2001.
Permits, fees, access to the headwaters, and water quality are at stake. If you care about these issues, it is vitally important for you to submit comments on the new Amendment by August 16th! This is true regardless of whether you've written other letters over the past three years, since the agency is essentially starting this month's planning process with a clean slate. And, if you think it's important enough to write comments, then encourage your boating partners to write too. For all the information you need to write a letter, including a downloadable version of the Forest Service Proposal and a Draft of American Whitewater's Formal Comments visit the web at http://www.americanwhitewater.org/archive/article/230/
There is a lot of misinformation about the Forest Service Proposal. Read it for yourself and decide. If you have any questions I am happy to try and answer them. Just send me an email.
Remember the deadline is August 16! We estimate we need several hundred letters to force them to respond to our comments. Please write now.
SYOTR
Don Kinser
Regional Coordinator
American Whitewater