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Ocoee Whitewater Center, Ducktown, Tennessee '
<br /> ' The Ocoee Whitewater Center on the upper section of the Ocoee
<br /> ` �, River in SoutheastTennessee is one of the world's premier whitewater parks.
<br /> ` 44 .
<br /> ` _ x The host of the 1996 Olympic whitewater events as well as countless World
<br /> ±----,:k n .,� Cup races and rodeos, the venue is also available for recreational use during
<br /> the weekends of July and August when other area rivers are dry.The I ,700-
<br /> foot -long Whitewater Center offers an enhanced natural riverbed that runs
<br /> fi ! with dam - released water, creating a course that truly has the best of both
<br /> y � man -made and
<br /> . 1 a �'� � fr natural whitewater.
<br /> 4 = ` s ue =` z . � -- - - Designer John
<br /> IN itevate Anderson created
<br /> a course that was
<br /> pa extremely
<br /> -'1-.. :,"` A!L/' A� / _ `'�' -: _ f - challenging, yet
<br /> t. "-� ?,, , ,, wanted to let the
<br /> >r, ;
<br /> ding the crest of a flood of new vi hitewater ' ..a?' -" - river be what it
<br /> Lac
<br /> ; P ark development is Gary y a Boulder, Csro.-
<br /> - j° -;9 , . � - _ wants to be" and
<br /> based engineer who has had a hand in designing ` �� s �„ maintain its natural
<br /> nearly half of all existing and future parks in the U.S., and p ,, f r feel. He
<br /> virtually every one of Colorado's 13 projects. His Y " .441 = - accomplished this
<br /> company, Recreation Engineering and Planning, specializes a" - - by constricting the
<br /> in riverside and in- stream improvements, a niche that o ` k r bed by as
<br /> p much.as 50
<br /> keeps Lacy, 46, working overtime. Just add water: the Ocoee Whitewater Center. percent. Banks
<br /> Lacy's father was a kayaking pioneer in Salida, were built with
<br /> Colo., who got his son involved in the sport by age 4. quarry rock, boulders and a special cement designed to blend in with the
<br /> The confluence of those tender beginnings and an natural rock. Desk -size boulders were placed one by one in the riverbed to
<br /> engineering career naturally led to his current role as create ledges that form broad, retentive surfing waves, and large rapids like
<br /> a whitewater park designer.-Good timing helped, too. Humongous for extremely technical (and consequential) ferry and surf moves.
<br /> "1 was working with the Greenway Foundation in It all came at a cost, $28 million, which included everything from parking lots
<br /> Denver in the mid -'70s on the Platte River to a new visitor s center.
<br /> When not hobnobbing with the Olympians who train regularly at the
<br /> improvement project," says Lacy. We were modifying course, paddlers can put on a few miles above the center to do the entire
<br /> readzha mrforsafe boating passage."`Vr/hen t e upper section of the Ocoee and /or continue downstream onto the popular
<br /> demand for whitewater parks erupted in the '90s, Lacy middle section for a full -day's adventure. All you need to enjoy the park is
<br /> was poised with the proper experience, as well as a three dollars for parking, which
<br /> Colorado address. also gets you access to the air- _.,,,,,
<br /> "The Golden [Colo.] park really created the conditioned visitor's center and =
<br /> demand for parks because it showed people that restrooms. Enjoy it while its �,
<br /> such a facility can really improve a community" Lacy available, though, because the
<br /> r
<br /> Tennessee Valley Authority, i`
<br /> says, referring to a park that he helped design (see which controls flows, is not
<br /> main feature). — guaranteeing releases for .• - s
<br /> Now he is consulted for nearly every project in coming years.
<br /> pi-ogress. "I get calls from all over the country," says Lac —Eric Kramer
<br /> who has projects in the works in California, Nevada, 1
<br /> Montana and Wyoming. His work includes drawing up Wausau Kayak/
<br /> plans and doing on -site advising alongside bulldozers and Canoe Corp.,
<br /> backhoes. Lacy is careful to enjoy the fruits of his own Wausau, Wisconsin
<br /> labor, too. In Boulder Creek, which flows behind his The flat, agrarian ! ,
<br /> house, he has created his own play wave. heartland of Wausau, Wis., is = €; s • -
<br /> In all of his work, is there one project that stands the last place you'd '
<br /> expect to - ms s ; � ' 1 - .2
<br /> out as a f One of the things I enjoy about this find rip- roaring whitewater. But -- " -
<br /> work is that each stretch is so different," he says. "Each
<br /> nestled in downtown Wausau, '` `".""'
<br /> a town of 38,000 on the
<br /> river has a different gradient, different character, and s ..,c "•- -- `: -
<br /> - most importantly, different community needs.'
<br /> Wisconsin River, lies a - ,..
<br /> waterway hosting World Cup t y , _
<br /> Nonetheless, Lacy points to the Golden project as slaloms and rodeos with s , '- - - ''
<br /> one that dramatically improved the character of an
<br /> Y � P crowds of almost 25,000
<br /> existing waterway, boating opportunities spilling out from local shops . _ -
<br /> notwithstanding. The stream just looks a lot better and lining the banks. Once a o `'
<br /> than it did before.The whole community rallies polluted, murky backwater, the a
<br /> 535 -meter course has been a Wisconsin whitewater: the course
<br /> was a former trash - dumping ground.
<br /> around that park —not just boaters."
<br /> — Frederick Reimers thriving part of Wausau since its
<br /> creation by the army corps and
<br /> local volunteers in 1979,
<br /> a 56 Paddler • May /June 2002
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