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Jimmy Carter Runs the Chattooga River

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Jimmy Carter grew up on a small creek in Georgia which opened his eyes to the connection between humans and wild rivers. As his career as a politician flourished, his relationship with rivers intensified. Carter began to study the ways of paddling in its many forms, and his commencement, of sorts, was paddling Bull’s Sluice on the Chattooga River in a tandem open-boat canoe. With only a few inches of the boat above water, Carter and his mentor Claude Terry, co-founder of American Rivers, completed the descent. From this experience, Carter carried a passion for conservation throughout his presidency by denying countless dam proposals on wild rivers. In The Wild President from NRS, American Rivers, and YETI Carter explains his commitment to America’s natural beauty.

Canoeing