TOWNSEND, Tenn. — More than 1,200 people have signed a petition by a wildlife and fisheries management major at the University of Tennessee ... the banks of the Little River in Townsend.

(WATE) — A new project aims to study the health of a 60-mile river that runs through East Tennessee ... to make sure Townsend is doing everything it can to keep the Little River healthy.

Townsend, Tenn., sits in the Tuckaleechee Cove amid the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains with high ridges all around and the Little River flowing ... for East Tennessee mountain culture.

Two boaters were discovered trapped in a whirlpool at the base of this dam in Blount County, Tennessee ... the report of a vessel in distress on Little River at Rockford Dam in Blount County.