Catherine Sloan pilots Betty and David Martin through bald cypress swamp. 



JL ears from now, 

 when development 

 has taken so very 

 much from us, the 

 wildness of our rivers 

 will be of greater 

 value than we might 

 ever imagine. 



Douglas Little, 

 Six Runs Creek, 

 Black River Boats 



other areas of the watershed were 

 equally clean and met the values 

 associated with outstanding resource 

 waters. This label may apply when 

 excellent water quality is accompanied 

 by one of the following five resource 

 values: an outstanding fishery re- 

 source, a high level of water-based 

 recreation such as boating or fishing, 

 a special designation such as a Na- 

 tional Wildlife Refuge, inclusion 

 within a state or national park or forest, 

 or special ecological or scientific sig- 

 nificance. The 75 river miles under 

 consideration clearly meet at least two 

 of these outstanding resource values — 

 water-based recreation and ecological 

 and scientific significance. The jury is 

 still out on the fishery assessment be- 

 cause of adverse sampling conditions. 



The entire Black River and a por- 

 tion of the South are on the National 

 Park Service list of proposed "wild, 

 scenic and recreational rivers." State 

 parks wanted to affix the label "state 

 natural and scenic river" in the late 

 1970s, but private landowners who 

 feared condemnation of their property 



squelched the plan. Public support for 

 the outstanding resource classification 

 has fared much better. 



At a public hearing in September 

 and in a slew of letters mailed to the 

 state since, many landowners and con- 

 servationists praised the proposal. But 

 at that same hearing, a minority — in- 

 cluding some downriver farmers — 

 were sour on the plan, saying they and 

 generations of their families had kept 

 the Black River pristine and would 

 continue to care for it without being 

 forced by the government. 



But these downstream landowners 

 — good stewards or bad — can't con- 

 trol what happens above them. 



"Can they speak for the people 

 who live in Clinton?" asks Dave Lenat, 

 a DEM environmental biologist. "If a 

 new industry wants to go in there and 

 says, 'I'm going to employ 1,000 

 people. What kind of compensation will 

 you give me here? Can I discharge my 

 stuff?"' 



Urban runoff and wastewater dis- 

 charges in the upper basin disqualified 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 5 



