From the Appalachian Voice
Spring 2000 

"Tennessee Paddle Fest"

During the weekend of April 7-9 2000, the first annual Tennessee Paddle Festival “for the Obed” was held in the town of Wartburg, nestled in the hills of the Cumberland Plateau.

Being surrounded by a variety of natural recreational attractions -- including Frozen Head State Park, Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, Catoosa Wildlife Area, the Cumberland Trail, and the Obed Wild and Scenic River National Park -- Wartburg is accustomed to tourists and outdoor sport enthusiasts. On this unseasonably cold weekend, however, the tiny burg was awash with passionate paddlers.

They came in cars and trucks bearing canoes and kayaks, and sporting license plates from near and far - Tennessee, of course, and North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ontario.... They speak a strange lingo - using words like "strainer" and "rooster tail" and "boof" in sentences only they can decipher. They wear gore-tex and polar fleece and fuzzy, funny looking hats. They came because they love whitewater.

Jimmy Groton is president of Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning and a member of the East Tennessee Whitewater Club, American Whitewater, and the Chota Canoe Club. "As a paddler, he said, "I'm interested in river water quality and maintaining public access to rivers. With this event, we hope to show the people of Wartburg that there are nonconsumptive uses of the river that will bring economic benefits to the area."

Congressman Zach Wamp, enjoying the festival with his son, said, "I love these rivers in East Tennessee -- been down the Ocoee, the Hiwassee, and the Connesauga; going down the Obed with my family in May." Wamp serves on the Interior Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. "We fund what I call 'the good guys' - the Forest Service, Park Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service, US Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management - who manage the one-third of this country's land that's owned by the federal government." He stressed the need to plan for these resource areas so they won't be overdeveloped like Tennessee's Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.

For the 1,200 attendees, the festival was an opportunity to shop the vendors of all manner of whitewater stuff - canoes, kayaks, paddles, clothing, and gear. T-shirts with a picture of a kayak and the legend "Real men wear skirts," or, written upside-down on the back, "If you can read this, pull me back in the canoe." Booths provided information on conservation organizations and their efforts to protect rivers and streams from degradation.

Brant Miller, a guitar-and-harmonica-playing forester from Nashville, entertained the crowd with songs like, "When You Pulled Out with Your Dagger, You Left a Blue Hole in My Heart" (Dagger is a kayak brand-name). "Music River," a cassette collection of eleven songs and one poem celebrating whitewater paddling, written by canoeist Miller and kayaker Tom Joy, was also for sale at the festival.

The Tennessee Paddle Festival is a combined effort of the American Whitewater Affiliation, the Chota Canoe Club, the East Tennessee Whitewater Club, the National Parks Conservation Association, the Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, and the University of Tennessee Canoe and Hiking Club. Dale Robinson, Tennessee Paddle Team Leader, explained that Wartburg was chosen as the festival site because of its proximity to the Obed River, with its rugged landscape of whitewater gorges with 500-foot bluffs.

Proceeds from the festival will be used toward implementation of the ObedWatershed Resources Management Plan and related projects.

The Obed is one of 150 designated wild and scenic rivers in the nation. The Obed Wild and Scenic River National Park, created in 1976, includes 5,057 acres of land in eastern Tennessee and portions of the Obed and Emory rivers and Clear and Daddy's creeks, for a total of 45.2 river miles. The park attracts 270,000 visitors annually. Last year, the Obed was designated an Outstanding National Resource Water -- the highest protection afforded under the Clean Water Act.

The Tennessee Paddle Festival is part of the Rivers 2000 Project, in which the River Management Society and a coalition of groups and agencies from the United States, Canada, and Mexico strive to increase public understanding of, and appreciation for, the values of our flowing waters, and an enhanced collective and personal stewardship of North America's rivers and watersheds. June is Rivers 2000 Month.

Rivers 2000 is focused on the three Rs of river protection: recognition of the water and related land resources and of the people and institutions who work together to ensure their value to us for the future; recreation --enjoying the opportunities our rivers and streams provide; and revitalization of our rivers and our commitment to proper stewardship of these important resources.

A highlight of Rivers 2000 is Pass the Paddle, where boaters from across the continent will use our rivers, and border rivers with Canada and Mexico, to carry the official Rivers 2000 paddle from state to state, ending with presentation of the paddle to President Clinton. Pass the Paddle kicked off on the Potomac River in Washington, DC, on April 1, and should be completed in September or October.

In a brief ceremony during the festival, the Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association received the Rivers 2000 Paddle from Kentucky's Bluegrass Wildwater Association. Brant Miller sang "Pass the Paddle," which he wrote with his wife, Patricia, for the event. The enthusiastic audience joined in for the chorus:

On stage were Joe Pulliam and Steve Scarborough, Dagger; Chuck Estes, American Whitewater; Ron Cook, East Tennessee Whitewater Club; Reed Detring, Superintendent of Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and the Obed Wild and Scenic River National Park; Tommy Kilby, Morgan County Executive; Steve Reed, representing North Carolina, the next state to receive the paddle; Jimmy Groton; Doug Freels, Wartburg alderman; David Elliot, president of the Chota Canoe Club; and Don Hall, Mayor of Wartburg.

Jack Lyle, president of the Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association, read a proclamation by Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist, affirming the natural, social, and economic values of the state's rivers and the importance of preserving these rivers for future generations, and proclaiming April 7-9 Rivers 2000 weekend in Tennessee.

"The paddle was passed yesterday from WV to KY," Lyle said, "and delivered unceremoniously from Kentucky to Tennessee last night." He added that the paddle would be carried down the French Broad River by Jimmy Groton on Sunday, and passed to Steve Reed at the Tennessee-North Carolina state line.

While the festival was underway in the shelter of the Wartburg Civic Center, some whitewater enthusiasts, undeterred by the cold, blustery weather, chose to spend the day on the river. In the early evening, under a gray sky, Sue Richardson, of Marietta Georgia; Lornet Williams, of Nashville; and Wayne Dickert, of Bryson City, North Carolina, carried their kayaks out of the frigid Emory River at Nemo Bridge. Wearing wetsuits, and red, chapped hands and faces, the unanimous response to "How're you doing?" was "About half frozen!" But they were grinning from ear to ear.

For information on next year's festival or other Tennessee Paddle events, call 865-909-2622 or check out the website at www.tennesseepaddle.com. For information on the Rivers 2000 Project, call 517-627-8362, or go to the website at rivers2000.org.

Shireen I. Parsons
Christiansburg, Virginia USA
for The Appalachian Voice

Tsonkwadiyonrat.- Lakota, "We are one spirit."