Watershed Update, Fall 2004

DON’T BE HORSIN’ AROUND

The Andrew Pickens Ranger District, which includes the South Carolina portion of the Chattooga River watershed, has announced intentions to expand the horse trail system on the SC side of the Chattooga River. The Sumter National Forest’s quarterly report vaguely identifies the project area as public lands lying in between Earls Ford Road, Chattooga Ridge Road, and Fall Creek Road, which is a large and significant parcel located directly adjacent to the Chattooga Wild & Scenic River corridor. Equestrian trails in the Chattooga watershed have been the subject of increased attention and outright controversy because of the growing popularity and demand for horse trails, and the negative impacts of over use, poorly designed trails, and river fords. With rumors brewing and prospective trails being flagged throughout the proposed project area, the Chattooga Conservancy requested a meeting with the District Ranger and other principals involved with the project. In attendance were various Forest Service personnel, the Chattooga Conservancy, private entrepreneurs, and Clemson University staff.

This meeting revealed that the entrepreneurs were planning to build a private horse camp with direct access to the new horse trail system, and the Forest Service was advancing a partnership arrangement between the agency, the entrepreneurs, and the university to execute the project. Indeed, the groundwork was already underway, which accounted for the flagged trails. Further, the notion was to privatize the major tasks of trail layout and maintenance to Clemson University and the horse camp folks, respectively. This would be a precedent-setting initiative to privatize a major recreation and natural resource management activity on the national forest, and one clearly favored by the Bush administration and the Chief of the Forest Service.

Chattooga Conservancy staff hiked some of the proposed horse trails and found them traversing wetlands, steep slopes and shallow, fragile soils—wholly unacceptable trail design. Other proposed trails outlined on a preliminary map appeared to have similar problems brought about by following old logging roads, which are gullied relics of times when erosion and sedimentation were non-issues. The Chattooga Conservancy is bringing these problems to the forefront, as well as the fact that there is an acute lack of law enforcement to address illicit off-road vehicle and horse trails, which are presently causing significant resource damage on public lands. In addition, the Conservancy is working with a respected, expert horse trail builder to fashion a sound alternative that would allow for a reasonable expansion of equestrian trails in the Chattooga watershed. Stay tuned—this issue is a waking giant that could leave large footprints in the Chattooga River watershed.

ONE FISH, TWO FISH, RED FISH, BLUE FISH—NOT QUITE!

On September 29, 2004, the Bush administration quietly enacted a radical new rule eliminating the Forest Service’s responsibility for managing our public lands to maintain “viable populations” of wildlife species. Previously, the wildlife viability standard was a common sense requirement that the Forest Service maintain healthy populations of native species on national forest lands in concert with timber harvesting and other resource extraction projects. Wildlife populations could be sampled, and hard numbers determined if a species was reproducing and healthy. Now the administration has replaced the viability standard with a vague and essentially meaningless directive for forest managers to “consider,” and not necessarily apply, the “best available science.” It’s common knowledge that science can be good or bad or disregarded, and the current administration has a strong history of manipulating and ignoring science to support its logging, mining, oil and gas drilling priorities. This new rule was issued with no opportunity for public oversight and comment, and in combination with other, recent assaults on public lands protections (eliminating the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, and greatly reducing wilderness area recommendations) it could have a dramatic negative effect on the Chattooga River watershed, where visitors to these national forest lands have enjoyed a marked reduction in timber harvesting for the last few years specifically because of species viability issues.

WHAT’S THE DIRT?

The Chattooga Conservancy has started a stream sampling program to find point sources of pollution in Stekoa Creek. Stekoa is a prominent, major tributary of the Chattooga, and the polluted creek has long blighted the Chattooga’s water quality onward from where it joins the wild and scenic river (halfway down Section IV). The history of Stekoa’s status as an “impaired” waterway is a discouraging story of ineffective mandates for cleaning up the water (see also Stekoa: A Plan For Restoration). Now, with even more dirt and fecal coliform bacteria finding its way into Stekoa Creek, the time has come for renewed efforts to focus state, federal and citizens’ resources on improving Stekoa’s water quality. To support this work, the Conservancy is systematically collecting “grab” samples of water at strategic points along Stekoa Creek. Then these water samples are analyzed at the University of Georgia’s environmental water laboratory. The first round of testing has revealed high fecal coliform counts, far in excess of permitted levels, at 2 of the 4 sites sampled. The sampling regime is slated for six months duration, and data will be used to spur sorely needed corrective measures for cleaning up Stekoa Creek. Citizens are invited to participate in collecting water samples, and we also welcome contributions earmarked for the laboratory costs, which total about $150 per sampling batch.