The Conasauga River is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end 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. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

and northwest

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. The Conasauga River is longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed April 27, 2011 and drains into the Oostanaula River, a tributary of the

Coosa River The Coosa River is a tributary of the Alabama River in the U.S. states of Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The river is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, ac ...

and part of the watershed of the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

. The river is home to over 90 species of fish and 25 surviving species of freshwater mussels. Its watershed encompasses over in two states, multiple counties, and two ecologically different regions.

Location

The Conasauga River is the most westerly trout 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 main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

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 a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...

is allowed all along the river.

Natural information

At the core of the Conasauga watershed is the Cohutta Wilderness, located in Fannin, Gilmer, and Murray counties in Georgia and Polk County in Tennessee. The

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

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 10 federally listed species of fish and mussels. Among these is the

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

, endangered Conasauga logperch (''Percina jenkinsi''). Historically there were 42 species of freshwater mussels, however only 25 species still exist. It is estimated that only 1% of original population remains. The waters yield established populations of

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

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

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

, 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 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 file:Cherokee Speakers by County, 2000.png, 350px, Number of speakers file:Lang Status 20-CR.svg, Cherokee is classified as Critically Endangered by UNESCO's ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger'' Cherokee or Tsalagi (, ) is an endangere ...

meaning "grass". According to the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the Compact of Free Association, asso ...

, 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.

Tributaries

* Tearbritches Creek

References

External links

The Conasauga River - The Nature Conservancy
no reference to Conasauga May 2016 {{authority control Rivers of Georgia (U.S. state) Rivers of Tennessee Rivers of Fannin County, Georgia Rivers of Gilmer County, Georgia Rivers of Murray County, Georgia Bodies of water of Polk County, Tennessee Rivers of Whitfield County, Georgia ACT River Basin