Obed WSR – Tennessee
When I traveled through Tennessee, I found myself moving through the landscape of the Obed Wild and Scenic River. Unlike many places we visit and clearly arrive at, this was a landscape you enter without gates or formal entrances. At the Obed WSR there are miles of creeks and rivers.
This remarkable river system came under federal protection in 1976, when it was designated a National Wild and Scenic River and officially placed under the care of the National Park Service. This was signed into law by Gerald Ford, at a time when proposed dam projects threatened to flood these gorges and alter the landscape.
The Obed was protected specifically to remain undeveloped. Its inclusion in the National Park Service was about preserving free-flowing rivers and surrounding ecosystems.
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