It all started with Bubba Doss’s plan for a marina.

In 2005, Bubba Doss applied to the Tennessee Valley Authority for a permit to lease 91 acres of forested land on the Elk River in Lauderdale County, Alabama, a mile upstream from the Tennessee River.

By Janice Barrett


It all started with Bubba Doss’s plan for a marina.

In 2005, Bubba Doss applied to the Tennessee Valley Authority for a permit to lease 91 acres of forested land on the Elk River in Lauderdale County, Alabama, a mile upstream from the Tennessee River.

His was a proposal for a privately owned marina on primitive TVA land on the west bank of the Elk River just north of the Tennessee River. The proposal called for four docks with 40 covered boat slips and 10 uncovered boat slips for sailboats. Also proposed were a concrete wave break, a concrete trash break with a fuel dock, two fishing-mooring piers, dredging, a retaining wall, launching ramp and a possible future 50 additional boat slips. Plans for the upland property included the construction of roads, an RV park with potentially 200 campsites, "nature trails", a marina store, restaurant, and boat dry storage facility.

In addition to its natural beauty, the rich Native American culture of the Elk River has been well-documented by historians such as Rickey Butch Walker.  Lamar Marshall’s letter to the TVA board of directors http://shoalsenvironalliance.netfirms.com/ERM/Lamar01.htm gives a good description.

Learning of this plan created alarm among the local residents.  It soon became clear that trading this beautiful forest and the pristine condition of the Elk River shoreline for a marina and RV campground and the attendant noise, traffic and pollution was not going to happen without a fight.

The bad news was that this was public land.  The good news was that this was public land, so citizens could challenge, protest, comment and band together to try to keep the development off their shoreline and out of their forest.

By the time Vic Dura found out about the proposed marina, other local people were already having community meetings about it.   Vic’s home in Lauderdale County is near the site of the proposed marina, so he wasted no time getting involved in the effort to stop the marina.  Vic was already a member of Shoals Environmental Alliance (SEA), so he suggested to SEA president Charles Rose that a sub-group be formed to lead the fight against the marina.  Thus, the Rogersville Special Interest Group (SIG) was born.

Another long-time local resident, Paul Hargrove, has owned a river camp 10 or 11 miles upstream from the proposed marina site for forty years.  Paul learned about Bubba Doss’s lease application from friends he regularly has breakfast with, and that there was to be a public meeting about it.  At that point he made up his mind to attend that meeting and to protect the area against the marina.  Paul drives past that forest on his way to his river camp and says it is the last beautiful place left on that part of the river.  He wanted to make sure it was protected for his grandkids.  Paul joined up with the Rogersville Special Interest Group and got to work earning his reputation as a bulldog.

Although the Rogersville Town Council and mayor were in favor of the marina, opposition among the residents continued to grow.  SIG organized a boat rally, they picketed the Rogersville town council, and a petition was circulated that ended up with 1600 signatures of people against the marina.   SIG asked Wild South to become involved, so Wild South members responded by joining with SEA and SIG and Wild Law members who were writing letters and making phone calls to the TVA board of directors, the Corps of Engineers, Congressman Bud Cramer and Governor Riley.
 
Paul Hargrove says that in the 2 ½ years he fought TVA he spent probably a thousand dollars in long distance phone calls, wrote letters and talked to “a hundred people”.  He attended every TVA meeting in the area and met every TVA board member personally.  Paul believes in person-to-person contact.  He met with Congressman Bud Cramer and state representative Tom Butler.  He never actually talked to Governor Riley but spoke with Riley’s representative, Burnett Lawley, 15 or 20 times, and met him at the airport in Decatur when Lawley agreed to fly up from Montgomery to see the Elk River.  Of course, the Corps of Engineers heard from Paul, too.  No help was gained from Senators Sessions and Shelby, but Paul got to know all their secretaries.  And he even met with Bubba Doss.  Of this meeting he says there were no cross or disrespectful words.

With the help of Wild Law, the Elk River Defense fund was formed.  Local people, members of Rogersville Special Interest Group, Shoals environmental Alliance, Wild Law and Wild South were invited to donate to this fund in case legal action became necessary.  Donations were made through Wild South and donors were offered the opportunity to request that their donation be returned if no legal action was taken.  It did not take long for the fund to grow to $5400.

When the fight for the Elk River began, there were only 2 TVA board members with seven more soon to be elected.  Of the original TVA board, Paul says one was “giving away our land”.  Activists began to feel more hopeful when one of the first actions of the new board of directors was to place a moratorium on all land transactions.  As Vic Dura noted, “I got the distinct feeling the new board of directors was more sensitive to local opinion than the old board. They are to be commended on that.”

The activism of local citizens who worked so hard to protect the Elk River was a factor in TVA’s development of a new Land Use Policy.  After a public comment period, the board of directors adopted the new policy on November 30, 2006.  http://www.tva.com/environment/land/assessment/recreation.htm

Because of the new Land Use Policy and the public opposition to the marina development, the TVA board of directors denied Bubba Doss a permit for the Elk River Marina.  Doss appealed the decision and in June 2008 was once again denied.

This is a great victory for everyone who fought to preserve the Elk River, and also for everyone who did not.  Every battle fought and won for the preservation of our natural and wild places is a victory for all living things. 

Thankfully, there has been no need to take legal action.  Only one of the donors to the fund asked for a refund.  Shoals Environmental Alliance donated a portion of the fund to Wild Law and Wild South.  The remainder will be saved for future efforts to protect the Elk River.

And what about the 91 acre parcel of land that was saved from development?  The Rogersville Special Interest Group is now requesting that TVA permit them a five-year easement on that 91 acre parcel and the adjacent 90 acre parcel so that SIG can maintain it as a nature preserve.   They have asked TVA to waive their fees.  SIG members would commit to clean up the shore and maintain existing trails, and put up a few small signs at points of interest.  The decision of the board is pending.

When asked, Paul advises other activists.  “You’ve got to be persistent.  Never give up.  Talk to elected officials.  Write and invite them for personal appearances.  Make person-to-person contact, write letters and then make phone calls to follow up on the letters.”  Paul’s wife Jeanette, a retired English teacher, helped him compose letters.  “Stay on them,” Paul advises.  “I worried them to death every week.”

“After being a coach for so long you learn people and their personalities.  Once they realized I was not going to back off, they listened to what I had to say.  If they come into that river again, I’ll be back on ‘em again.”