It's easy to embrace convenience

It's easy to embrace convenience

David Carter, the former director of Wake County Parks, Recreation and Open Space, now works as southeast director of conservation finance for the Trust for Public Land. Carter also is an adjunct faculty member in N.C. State's Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management Department. Excerpts from a recent interview with Q editor Jane Ruffin:

Q: Among people in your circle, is there much talk about these man-made outdoor experiences such as the whitewater center?

A: I have not heard a lot of chatter about it. I don't think it's large enough. I would suggest there is a position or place for it in the urbanizing environment. In any of my roles, former or current, I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing.

In order to get on the bigger rivers, the Gauley [in West Virginia] and places like that, you've got to wait your turn. You've got to put your name in a hat, and hopefully you'll get chosen. You can't just call up and say, "Well, you know, I think I'm going to go down the Gauley this weekend." The Gauley in particular has a very short running season when they open up the dams. The same with the Colorado River. You couldn't right now say, "Well, I think I'm going to go up to Arizona and do the Colorado River next week." Put your name in a hat, and maybe three years from now you can get on the river.

So when you start looking at the management issues of hundreds and thousands of people running river trips or rafting trips, an urban environment of that is not necessarily a bad thing, because it does take some of the stress off the natural environment, and I would argue that there is a savings on gas, on air pollution in providing close-to-home recreation.

Q: Why do you think it's catching on? For those reasons?

A: A lot of it is that reason. It's convenient. For us to go from Raleigh to, say, the New River or to the Nantahala, you're looking at a four- to five-hour trip. Or if you're in Charlotte, a two-hour-plus trip. Well, if I'm in Charlotte and it's a Saturday morning, and I'm looking for something to do, I can turn to my wife and go, "Let's go down to the whitewater park," then we don't have to drive all the way to West Virginia to go on the Gauley. We can still have fun, we can stay in the city, we can spend our money here where we live and we can still have a good experience.

Q: I didn't realize our rivers were quite that pressured.

A: All up and down basically anything east of the Appalachian Mountains, you've got tremendous pressure. There's a ton of studies out there, empirical studies, on river management, river rafting, the conflicts between canoeists and kayakers, the conflicts between fishermen and private property rights. You've got a whole litany of issues out there that management agencies -- i.e. the U.S. Forest Service, Park Service and others -- deal with.

Q: So in a way, what's happening in our natural environment isn't really a natural experience, either.

A: No, it's not. Oh, gosh, no. You'll have to go to places like northern Maine up to the Allagash riverways or northern Minnesota up into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. You've really got to go away from the urbanizing areas to really appreciate a more true wilderness experience. In the eastern part of the United States, there's very little in the way of a unique wilderness experience.

Q: Do you foresee any of this happening in the Triangle?

A: When I was the ... director of Wake County, we had that conversation with the whitewater folks. A bunch of us in this area submitted a bid for that work. We were not chosen for a variety of reasons -- and quite honestly, you know this community as well as I do -- we're arguing over free public art. Can you imagine us spending money of that magnitude for whitewater rafting in downtown Raleigh or along the Neuse?

It's not going to happen. This area is too darn conservative from that standpoint.