The Conasauga River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

that runs through southeast

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

and northwest

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The Conasauga River is longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed April 27, 2011 and is home to 90 species of fish and 25 species of freshwater mussels. The Conasauga River watershed encompasses over in two states, multiple counties, and two ecologically different regions.

Location

The Conasauga River is the most westerly

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

water on public land in Georgia. It is the only river in Tennessee that is not a part of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

watershed. The only road access to the Conasauga is found via Old GA 2, GA 2, and Carlton Petty Road. Access via foot trail is located on Forest Service road (FS) 64 in Betty Gap. Three other trails descend from the west off FS 17 to intersect the river trail. From south to north they are the Chestnut Lead, , Tearbritches Trail, , and Hickory Creek Trail, . Primitive

camping Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more nat ...

is allowed all along the river.

Natural information

At the core of the Conasauga watershed is the

Cohutta Wilderness The Cohutta Wilderness was designated in 1975, expanded in 1986, and currently consists of . Approximately are located in Georgia in the Chattahoochee National Forest and approximately are located in Tennessee in the Cherokee National Forest. ...

, located in Fannin, Gilmer, and

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

counties in Georgia and Polk County in Tennessee. The

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Nationa ...

manages the area as part of the Chattahoochee National Forest and Cherokee National Forest. The preserve covers over and contains approximately of the Conasauga. The Conasauga River is home to more than 90 fish species, including 12 federally listed species of fish and mussels. Historically there were 42 species of freshwater mussels, however only 25 species still exist. It is estimated that only 1% of original population remains.Conasauga River Watershed Ecosystem Restoration Project
/ref> The waters yield wild

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coast ...

and wild browns, with rainbows up to and browns to . The managed land is populated by

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

, wild hogs, black bears, and smaller animals.

Environmental problems

The Conasauga River is a Category 1 priority watershed in Georgia’s Unified Watershed Assessment and of the river and of the tributaries have been on Georgia’s List of Impaired Waters for fecal, metal, toxic chemical, sediment, and nutrients. Up to one-third of the summer flow taken in the vicinity of Dalton, Georgia is used for carpet production. The river has been contaminated with

perfluorinated compounds A perfluorinated compound (PFC) or perfluoro compound is an organofluorine compound containing only carbon-fluorines and C−C bonds, as well as potentially heteroatoms. Perfluorinated compounds have properties that result from the presence of flu ...

used to make carpets stain-resistant.Fuchs, Erin and Pam Sohn
"Study finds high levels of stain-resistance ingredient in Conasauga River"
''Chattanooga Times Free Press''. (February 10, 2008). Accessed October 26, 2008.

Name

"Conasauga" is a name derived from the

Cherokee language 200px, Number of speakers Cherokee or Tsalagi ( chr, ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ, ) is an endangered-to- moribund Iroquoian language and the native language of the Cherokee people. ''Ethnologue'' states that there were 1,520 Cherokee speak ...

meaning "grass". According to the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

, Conasauga River has also been known historically as: * Connasauga River * Connesauga River * Conne-san-ga River * Slave River * Jacks River now is the name of a tributary of the Conasauga.

References

External links