American Whitewater began investigating the whitewater potential of the Cheoah River in 1999, and advocated for a controlled whitewater flow study in 2000, which formed the basis of the next 4 years of negotiating for releases, access areas, land protection, etc. Flows on this river were severely impacted by the Tapoco Hydroelectric Project (FERC P-2169). It took thousands of hours attending meetings and writing technical comments, but eventually our efforts were successful. On September 17th, 2005 we celebrated the first recreational release on the river. There will be at leaset 18 releases annually for at least the next 40 years. In addition, new access areas are being built, thousands of acres of critical wildlands are being protected, and a improved base flow is working with the higher flows to restore the river. We more completely outline the benefits of the new license in a web article written when the FERC staff issued their decision.
Throughout the relicensing we worked very closely with Western Carolina Canoe Club, Carolina Canoe Club, other regional clubs, and the outfitters from neighboring rivers. Their efforts were critical to the success of the project.
Now that the relicensing efforts are over, our role has shifted to collaboratively managing the river with the US-Forest Service, and to participating in post-relicensing monitoring. During the first year of releases we assisted with shuttles, management decisions, promotion through the county, public education, and vegetation removal efforts. We have prepared a report analyzing the first year of releases, and will be playing an active role in the long term management of the Cheoah.
The Cheoah is an awesome whitewater run–and an amazing river.
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