The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia
Wednesday, 27 September 2023 11:57

Down the river toward a distant creek

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IMG_9118.jpegLaunching a raft for the rapids on the Ocoee River to raise awareness for TennGreen’s effort to acquire land along Clear Creek in Morgan County.  Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press 

A raft trip on the Ocoee helped save faraway Clear Creek

DUCKTOWN — We threw our backs into paddling as the raft dipped and crested.

We were on the Ocoee River in southeastern Tennessee, but Clear Creek, 118 miles away in Morgan County, was the reason for the occasion.

I joined the group, some of whom were staying in nearby cabins overnight, for rafting and a cookout.

It was part of a TennGreen push to buy and preserve 180 acres of land along Clear Creek. It will then sell 23 of those acres, which includes a house. It will donate the rest to the Obed Wild and Scenic River, an adjoining federal conservation area.

Cool water deluged us, rapid after rapid. In one case we spun with momentum. We high-fived with our paddles when we hit clear spots after a successful run.

That evening, we unwound with hot dogs, burgers both vegetarian and meat, potato salad and s’mores among other treats at the Cabins at Copperhill.

TennGreen Deputy director Christie Henderson said buying the Clear Creek land would allow for a connected wilderness area in which plants and animals could have a safe corridor. It also would preserve the view of the night sky from potential light from new houses. 

The area hosts several rare species, including Cumberland rosemary, a threatened plant which sprouts out of rocky riverbanks. Spotfin chub, a threatened fish, swims in clear upland rivers with swift currents and boulder substrates such as Clear Creek. The rare tangerine darter lives in Clear Creek’s rocky pools. Hellbenders also crawl on the creek’s bottom. 

The land TennGreen hopes to acquire already has multiple trails

Another top reason for preservation is to have a less interrupted wild area for people paddling the Ocoee River, which Henderson called an important whitewater destination.

“Having those bluff lines not have houses or structures on them makes it feel like you’re out in those rugged rural areas,” Henderson said. “Having that natural beauty that is not impacted by development is important.”

Others with TennGreen echoed the thought.

“Places like Clear Creek recharge people’s batteries,” said Steven Walsh, senior development officer for TennGreen. “People need that. It’s important to get out of cities, get away from everyday life and create memories.”

TennGreen is a nonprofit and Tennessee’s oldest accredited statewide land conservancy still working on researching and acquiring land to preserve across the state.

“One hundred years from now we’ll be gone but these places will still be there for nature and for people,” Walsh said.

Preserving the outdoors is a passion for the people at TennGreen. Development Officer Nicole Jordan said she joined TennGreen because of her love of nature which stretched back to her childhood as an only child in a rural area.

“The trees and the crickets were my friends and my siblings,” she said.

Henderson said TNGreen chose the Ocoee area for the fundraiser because some supporters wanted to have a fundraiser closer to where they lived, and had connections to the hosts. But this venue would raise awareness among people interested in paddling at a place to learn about Clear Creek.

“Any folks who are interested in Clear Creek would be very interested in the Ocoee,” she said.

Some who attended were whitewater enthusiasts. One, Lee Smija, recently moved to Tennessee and said he went on the trip to “have a good time and meet new friends.”

He said he’d rafted in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Alaska and found this event on Facebook.

“I like the outdoors. I like water and mountains,” Smija said.

For others it was their first time on whitewater including Nitalyn Caruso. Her favorite part was “surfing” which our raft did once at a specific rapid, in which the rafters wait for the water to build up and push them forward rather than paddling, which was how we handled most of the rapids.

“The excitement. The fact that you’re able to just sit there and feel the water and not know. That was fun,” she said. 

See more information on TennGreen or call (615) 329-4441.

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Last modified on Thursday, 28 September 2023 23:34
Published in News, Event Archive, Water