Don’t Let Railroad Rebuild Destroy the Nolichucky Gorge (Updated X2)

Second Update: The reckless mining of the Nolichucky River's bed and banks continues, despite news yesterday that it would be halted. The Army Corps of Engineers called AW yesterday to let us know that there would be no more mining below the ordinary high water line, but it turns out they did not provide guidance on where that line is, and the riverbed excavation continues with no oversight or regulatory limits. It seems clear that none of the federal agencies are currently willing to direct this project to protect the river while restoring the rail line.    

One of North Carolina and Tennessee’s best whitewater rivers is facing a man-made disaster rivaling Hurricane Helene in the storm’s aftermath. Right now, dozens of excavators and dump trucks are pushing their way ever-deeper into the Nolichucky River Gorge, removing massive amounts of rock and soil from the river’s bed and banks in an unregulated rush to rebuild the railroad through the Gorge. Located on the Tennessee-North Carolina state line near the hurricane-impacted town of Erwin, TN and Poplar, NC, the Nolichucky Gorge is an economically vital source of river-based tourism and an amenity that attracts and retains residents. 

We need your voice to stop the destruction of the Nolichucky Gorge! Use our easy-action form to urge Congress to intervene today!

Hurricane Helene resulted in massive flooding throughout the Nolichucky River watershed, severely impacting many communities and industries. In the remote Nolichucky Gorge the flood almost totally reorganized the rapids - but not in a bad way. The flood created a delightful series of rapids with deep enough channels to support year-round rafting, and the scenery in the Gorge remains incomparable. When rafting companies rebuild and access areas reopen, the Nolichucky stands to be an even bigger economic powerhouse for the region than it was before - and provide those benefits for many generations to come. 

With this said, the disaster of riverbed mining and destruction could erase the river’s value in a matter of days or weeks, and it is utterly avoidable. If rapids and riverbanks continue to be mined the river will widen and be simpler and shallower. This would likely make the river less navigable in summer months when flows drop and recreation demand is high, and could make the rapids less fun, less natural, and more dangerous. Mining aside, rebuilding the rail line could also needlessly impact the river environment through dumping fill into the river and through other means. It doesn’t have to be that way, we can have a restored rail line and a high quality Nolichucky River Gorge.  

In over a week of public pressure CSX has not changed their operation at all. This cavalier approach and impact is the kind of thing people say "could never happen today" and lament for generations after the damage is done. This is not recovery, it's just damage, when people have already lost so much.  

CSX and their contractors need to take a step back from their cavalier approach to rebuilding their rail line. They need to consult with federal land and resource managers, and the public, and rebuild their line in a manner that protects rather than damages the recreational and economic value of the Nolichucky River Gorge. The US Forest Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service need to step up and step in, and protect the public interest on these public lands and waters. The citizens of the area have been through enough destruction, we don’t need to watch as yet another treasured place and another industry is destroyed in slow motion. Slowing the rail project by even a couple weeks could yield hundreds of years of sustainable recreational and economic benefits. Specifically, the following measures could help protect the river while rebuilding the rail line:

• Stop excavating rock and other substrate from the river channel and banks immediately. The river channel is defined by the regular high water level, and is several feet higher than the current water level.
• Stop work until an agency and public vetted plan for the work is approved in place that establishes best practices, permissible activities, and oversight to protect public values.
• Minimize fill in the river channel, especially where rapids are adjacent to the railbed, through the use of retaining walls or other means.
• Mitigate unavoidable impacts as the project proceeds. 

Please ask your elected officials to intervene. Ask them to request CSX pause this work immediately until a plan and process is in place to protect the river while rebuilding the rail line, and to request that the Army Corps of Engineers, US Forest Service, and US Fish and Wildlife Service immediately document what the gorge looks like now, work with CSX to ensure the river is protected, and provide regular oversight and accountability for the work.  

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