Columbia, SC - The U.S. Forest Service will hold to public meetings to help the agency develop and evaluate specific alternatives for management of the Upper Chattooga River.

“We hope our public hearing on July 10 and our standards workshop on July 14 will help establish areas of common ground among the many interests as we move toward a final decision in December on future management of the Upper Chattooga River,” said Sumter National Forest Supervisor Jerome Thomas, the lead responsible official for conducting the analysis. 

Tuesday July 10, 2007: Formal hearing to receive public comments on managing recreation uses on the Upper Chattooga River corridor. Individuals will have up to three minutes each to present their views.  Sign in at noon; public hearing 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. St. John’s Lutheran Church, 301 W. Main St., Walhalla S.C.  Written statements and comments also may be submitted.

Saturday July 14, 2007:  This full-day workshop will be facilitated by staff from the NC State University Natural Resources Leadership Institute.  The primary purpose of this meeting is to encourage a dialogue among various users and generate suggested building blocks that can be used by the Forest Service to develop alternatives for future recreation use management on the Upper Chattooga.  Open House and registration 9 a.m.; formal workshop 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. First Baptist Church, 403 E. Main St., Walhalla S.C. Please note location change.  To make best use of everyone’s time, participants should plan to eat lunch at the meeting facility.  People can sign up in the morning for pizza delivery ($5 per person) or bring their own lunch.

Detailed information about the Upper Chattooga River Capacity Use Analysis and upcoming public meetings is available at the Sumter/ Francis Marion National Forest Website: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/fms/.