Sink Mountain Recreation Area, Watauga Reservoir

Johnson County, Tennessee

In November 2021, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) adopted an environmental assessment (EA) prepared by the U.S. Forest Service, Cherokee National Forest, addressing a proposal to establish a new recreation site on Watauga Reservoir in the Cherokee National Forest.  The recreation site would include a boat ramp, fishing pier, parking lot, and bathroom facilities and would replace an older recreation site that has been inaccessible since a landslide rendered portion of a Forest Service road unsafe in 2019.  Because about half of the new site would be located on TVA lands, TVA would be granting the Forest Service permission to use the TVA lands.

The project is a collaboration between TVA, the Forest Service, the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, and the Federal Highway Administration.  TVA served as a cooperating agency with the Forest Service as they prepared the EA.  In September 2021, the Forest Service issued the final EA and finding of no significant impact (FONSI).  TVA is adopting the Forest Service’s EA because it adequately addresses impacts associated with TVA’s action.  TVA has prepared its own EA Adoption record and FONSI.