Watershed Update

Development Proposed For Russell House Site

The proposed development plan for the Russell House site includes moving 12 buildings there, installing a visitor's center and gift shop, and constructing a 30-car parking lot-all right next to the Wild & Scenic River Corridor. On July 13th, 2009, the Andrew Pickens Ranger District in the South Carolina portion of the Chattooga River watershed issued a "scoping notice" soliciting comments on a Forest Service proposal to authorize a permit for the Oconee Heritage Center (in Walhalla, SC) to establish a "Southern Appalachian Farmstead living history interpretive site on 20 acres of national forest lands at the existing Russell Farm Historic Site on Highway 28." This site is adjacent to Chattooga Old Town (Cherokee Indian archaeological site) where Highway 28 crosses the Chattooga River into Georgia. The stated purpose for the project is to "preserve and interpret historic rural lifeways associated with Southern Appalachian culture" during a period of time between 1875-1925.

The "proposed actions" include: 1) stabilize, restore, and maintain the buildings on the original Russell House Site that is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places; 2) relocate 12 additional historic buildings that have been donated to the Oconee Heritage Center on an adjacent 15 acres, to recreate a period historic landscape including an heirloom garden, a field for growing corn and sorghum, and pasture for farm animals; 3) relocate an old school building to serve as a caretaker's residence; 4) construct a 30-car parking lot; 5) install public "pit" toilets; and, 6) relocate buildings for a gift shop, office, and visitors center. Events that are proposed to be scheduled on the site include festivals, music gatherings, quilting bees, barn raisings, molasses-making, and farm demonstrations.

The Chattooga Conservancy is opposed to issuing a permit for the "Southern Appalachian Farmstead" proposal for numerous reasons, as follows. The Russell House was burned to the ground by an arsonist in 1988, and since then the Forest Service has failed to maintain the site such that all of the buildings with historic value have either rotted or are in a state of disrepair. Since the destruction of the Russell House, the site has been evaluated by a blue ribbon panel that recommended that the site be removed from the National Historic Register. We concur, with the opinion that the historic site is too far gone to be restored. However, the Forest Service and the Oconee Heritage Center refuse to move forward with taking the site off of the historic register, perhaps in order to make their proposal for developing the area more attractive to funders. Consequently, the restrictions for what can be done on a historic site prohibit anything other than restoring the area to its original condition. As a result, the proposed development activities must occur outside of the original 5-acre historic site.

Because of these restrictions, the "farmstead" proposal requests use of an adjacent 15 acres of public land to use for all of the buildings, new parking lot, gift shop, etc. However, this "replica" site goes far beyond the idea of restoring the National Register site, and also goes well beyond the scope of establishing a living farmstead. The visitor's center, 30-car parking lot, gift shop, festivals, etc., are simply not compatible with activities adjacent to a Wild and Scenic River corridor, and this development would not be appropriate for an area so close to the Chattooga River.

Lastly, the farmstead site as it is proposed is really not for a true living farmstead; instead, it appears to be for a demonstration site to attract tourists. The farm animals would not be used to work the fields, and the "caretaker" would be a night watchman, not a self-sufficient farmer. However, if the Russell House were removed from the National Historic Register, there might be an alternative for establishing a true living farmstead, without duplicitous efforts to establish a tourist destination site per se. As is, the current "Southern Appalachian Farmstead" proposal simply doesn't fit the bill for activities that would be true to the original use of the Russell House site, nor is it compatible with the guidance for managing areas next to the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River Corridor.

In the coming months, the Forest Service intends to release a "pre-decisional environmental assessment" that we expect will support going ahead with their "Southern Appalachian Farmstead" development proposal. This could forever change the peaceful landscape at the Russell House site. Stay tuned.

Upper Chattooga Decision Appealed

The Chattooga Conservancy filed a notice of appeal on October 17th of the decision by the Forest Supervisors of the Sumter, Nantahala and Chattahoochee National Forests to amend their respective Forest Plans to allow implementation of Alternative 4 of the Environmental Assessment for the Management of Recreation Uses on the Upper Chattooga River. The Chattooga Conservancy takes extreme exception to the Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact for these Forest Plan amendments, which were announced in August 2009.

We assert that this decision to create a new access trail and a parking lot between Whiteside Cove Road and Norton Mill Creek in the Chattooga's North Carolina headwaters will result in irreparable harm to the natural environment in sensitive areas in the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River Corridor, specifically in the Chattooga Cliffs reach in the extreme headwaters of the Chattooga above Bull Pen Bridge. Comments to the Forest Service by Jim Costa, the Director of the Highlands Biological Station, and Bob Gale, ecologist with the Western North Carolina Alliance, and the research conducted in the Chattooga Cliffs area by Chick Gaddy, a biologist who studied the Chattooga Cliffs extensively in the 1980's, all document the extreme sensitivity of the unique biological diversity found in the Chattooga Cliffs reach.

We firmly believe that this decision will also result in irreparable harm to the social experience for those recreational users in this section of the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River Corridor who seek solitude and peace in one of the last remaining wild places along the river, which would-if decision goes forward-be penetrated by rehabilitating the County Line Road (an old logging road) to allow a new whitewater boating access point, as well as an entrance for the inevitable proliferation of user-created trails.

Conversely, we believe that the decision to exclude all boating below Burrells Ford to the Highway 28 Bridge is unfair, and inconsistent with the decision to allow restricted boating in the reaches of the National Wild and Scenic River Corridor and Ellicott Rock Wilderness from Norton Mill Creek to the Burrells Ford Bridge. We assert that boating should be allowed year round from Bull Pen Bridge all the way to the Highway 28 Bridge, with the same water level restriction as proposed by the decision that limits boating to above 450 cubic feet per second on the Burrells Ford gauge, which would protect a "high quality fishing experience" in this whole section of river if additional restrictions were implemented to limit the number of groups per day to 4 consisting of no more than 6 boaters per group.

We also assert that the Forest Service's entire 41/2 year process, beginning with the Chief of the Forest Service's decision to require local forests to revisit the decision to ban boating in the headwaters in 2005, has been fraught with bias, unconscionable inconsistencies, is an unjustifiable waste of tax payers money, culminating in multiple violations of federal law, specifically including the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Wilderness Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Administrative Procedures Act, and a host of misinterpretations of various federal regulations including the Forest Service Handbook and the Forest Service Manual, that are promulgated for the implementation of these laws. To read the Chattooga Conservancy's Notice of Appeal in its entirety, visit www.chattoogariver.org.

Stekoa Creek Water Sampling Update

Starting the first week of July, the Stekoa Creek water sampling program moved to the area around the confluence of Stekoa Creek and the Chattooga River (about mid-way down "Section IV"), to obtain a contemporary record of data showing the impact of Stekoa on the Chattooga's water quality. Samples were gathered at the Chattooga/Stekoa confluence, and a few sites upstream/downstream. Test results were expected to show that the negative effects of Stekoa Creek periodically cause the river's water quality to exceed standards set for recreational contact. This is expected to occur primarily in conjunction with rain events, when the chronic inflow and infiltration problems with Clayton's sewage collection system are greatest. Local weather was quite dry during most of the July-August season, and correspondingly, the fecal coliform counts for most of the Chattooga water samples collected were acceptable-with 2 exceptions, including a high reading in excess of 1,000 fc/100ml that occurred after a moderate rain event (over 200 fc/100ml is considered unsafe for contact).

In September, the Stekoa sampling program moved back to sites around Clayton. Since then, and often after rain events, numerous high fecal coliform readings have been recorded with some extraordinarily high fecal counts, like one at 37,000 fc/100ml! All water test results have been shared with city officials, to keep the issue of repairing and replacing Clayton's sewage collection infrastructure at the forefront of their awareness and civic responsibilities.

At the Clayton City Council's October '09 meeting, council members voted to redirect (away from the doubtful Black's Creek water project) over $1 million of the city's SPLOST funds to address sewage and water infrastructure problems. There is no doubt that the Stekoa Creek water sampling program can be credited with helping bring about this new action. It's hopeful that the GA State Legislature will approve the city council's initiative, and substantial on-the-ground progress to improve Stekoa Creek's water quality can begin in earnest.