Published: September 27, 2008 05:56 pm         

Professor dreams of city whitewater course in Potomac’s North Branch

Robert Kauffman says project could become integral part of Canal Place

CUMBERLAND — If the dream of a Frostburg State University professor comes true, a whitewater rafting course with a price tag of $8 million to $12 million will be created in the North Branch of the Potomac River at Cumberland and become an integral part of Canal Place.

In an effort that has been relatively sequestered, Robert B. Kauffman, a professor of recreation and park management, has drawn on successful whitewater parks in Denver, Reno and the Twin Cities in Minnesota to create his local plan. Kauffman envisions a course that incorporates the existing dam beneath the bridge that connects Cumberland with Ridgeley, W.Va.

“Fortunately, nobody has died there. It’s quite a hazard,” Kauffman said of the 14-foot drop. “This is an opportunity to make something beneficial out of it.”

Although engineering could refine things, Kauffman’s basic plan is to reduce the height of the existing dam by five feet and to have another coffer dam of 14 feet built upstream 500 yards or so. Backfilling of dirt below each dam would create the gradient needed to produce the rafting experience.

Admittedly, Kauffman has done little coordination with those who would have interest or control over such a project. For example, he has not contacted the Canal Place Preservation & Development Authority, though touts a downtown whitewater course as a perfect fit for the tourism effort centered around the C&O Canal.

“We’re in an early stage,” Kauffman said. “We will put together a committee, try to come up with the $100,000 to $300,000 for an engineering study and then see if we can build it.”

Kauffman said he will be asking Cumberland municipal government for a letter of support. “That will be our launching pad,” he said.

Coincidentally, a Maryland Department of Natural Resources effort has begun that could possibly remove the existing dam.

Kauffman said he has had no recent contact with DNR officials, though the idea for the whitewater course was presented to that agency by way of Delegate Casper Taylor before his political defeat in 2002.

“I remember going to Annapolis with Dick Pfefferkorn (former executive director of the Canal Place authority) and talking to the secretary of natural resources about the whitewater course,” said Nathan Blatchley, an avid boater who worked with Kauffman on the concept.

“Funding at DNR was bad at that time, so that stalled the project as well,” Blatchley said. “A whitewater course would fit perfectly with Canal Place. The kids could go rafting and the older folks could ride the scenic railroad.”

Both Blatchley and Kauffman see the course as a complement to, rather than a competitor with, the recirculating whitewater course in Garrett County at the Adventure Sports Center International.

Kauffman said he will emphasize the park atmosphere that will arise with the Cumberland venture, similar to the existing downtown courses in other parts of the country that provide for the full family outing.

He said the difficulty level will be moderate and actually sees the project as being ideal for those who like to float in an inner tube.

A pump downstream of the dams would be used to recirculate water when needed to either allow for rafting or to increase the level of difficulty.

Kauffman said the course would be built to allow for upstream fish passage. “If fish can get over Great Falls, they will be able to get over this,” he said.

The existing dam is a barrier to upstream fish movement.

Kauffman said he would expect that a downtown whitewater course would be used mostly by local residents with supplemental use by tourists.

“That’s what has happened with the Allegheny Highlands Trail,” Kauffman said.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.