National Park Service to help with development of Sequatchie River water trail

Ketner's Mill, in Marion County, is easy access to the Sequatchie River.
The National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program (RTCA) teams with The Southeast Tennessee Development District to introduce a water trail on the Sequatchie River.
Ketner's Mill, in Marion County, is easy access to the Sequatchie River. The National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program (RTCA) teams with The Southeast Tennessee Development District to introduce a water trail on the Sequatchie River.

A National Park Service program will help officials develop ideas and plans for a water trail on the Sequatchie River, the 70-mile-long river that bisects its pastoral namesake, the Sequatchie Valley.

Canoeing and kayaking enthusiasts in the area probably already know the Sequatchie River, but much of it runs through private land or is otherwise inaccessible. The river flows south from the southern fringe of Cumberland County, Tennessee - where it emerges from the ground at a location known as Head of Sequatchie - through Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties to the Tennessee River in Marion County.

The Southeast Tennessee Development District, in a joint effort with Bledsoe, Sequatchie and Marion counties, is working to introduce the water trail with help from a federal team working on issues related to public use, according to district spokeswoman Jenni Veal.

"We will be working with each county mayor's office, tourism partners and relevant agencies to promote outdoor recreation on the Sequatchie River," Veal said Monday.

Local officials and supporters will get technical and planning assistance to "promote the development of new outdoor recreation, economic opportunities and natural resource conservation," federal officials said in the statement. A network of professional planners and landscape architects will lend their expertise.

"Our goal with this project is to identify access sites along the river, as well as potential sites that can be developed to improve water access," Veal said. "We will also develop marketing strategies to promote water recreation on the river and increased visitation in the Sequatchie Valley - there are so many wonderful restaurants, shops and historic sites that visitors to the river can enjoy as a part of their experience.

"Another important aspect of this project is improving safety at the low-head dam on the Sequatchie River at Ketner's Mill," Veal said of the river features at the historic site in Marion County.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency "is providing safety signage and buoys to be installed above and below the dam, and we are looking at modification options to remove the dangerous hydraulics that create drowning hazards above and below low-head dams," she said.

The project is one of 12 selected in the Southeast - and the only one in the Chattanooga region - by the National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program, federal officials said in a statement. The other 11 projects are in Northeast Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina.

David Jackson, county mayor in Marion County on the Sequatchie River's southern end, praised the program and sees economic benefits from the water trail development.

It will help provide mapping and a inventory list of areas where canoes and kayaks can access the Sequatchie River, Jackson said.

"The people that canoe and kayak love the outdoors and they want be able to access the river through public access areas," he said. "With the creation of the water trail, we feel that it will bring more tourists to our county, and we hope that while they are here they will shop and have lunch or dinner at one of our restaurants."

Jackson said Marion County ranks 41st out of 95 counties in Tennessee in tourism revenue for local businesses.

"Last year there was over $38 million spent in Marion County," he said. "With the creation of the water trail we hope that number will increase over the coming years."

Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook.com/benbenton1.

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