This weekend (Fri,Sat,Sun) there will be a recreational flow study on the Sultan River. It has been a long process to negotiate this study and I thank all those who wrote in comments and attended the public meeting to advocate for this--you made a difference.

Each flow study is different and in this case AW was asked to provide no more than 15 boaters for the study panel and focus group. I sent out an invitation to about 60 people who have run the river before (and filled out the online survey) and based on responses we put together the focus group. For purposes of the study we wanted individuals who had knowledge of the run at a previous flow. I also made an effort to get a good cross section of the community.

Now I know many others are probably wanting to come out and check out the river and some of you will surely find your way there. We will not be closing or restricting access to the river--it is a public resource. However we are discouraging individuals not affiliated with the study from coming out. Here are the guidelines and things to consider:

- It is critical that part-time class IV boaters not come out this weekend. It is imperative that we minimize the probability of any incident on the river as this will have major implications for our ability to negotiate future releases. Remember this is a study to determine feasibility of future releases for the public--that will be highly publicized--for the next 30 years. It is in all of our best interests to make sure this one runs smoothly. If this one runs smoothly we're in good shape; if it doesn't it makes my job all that much more challenging and can jeopardize our ability to negotiate effectively.

- We have a plan for what flows will be released but that plan could be modified by the focus group

- We have a situation with the miner who has a claim at the access site we use for a put-in. Please do not touch his equipment, do not use his ladder, and attempt to minimize disturbance in this area.

- If you are on the fence on whether to come or not this is not the best weekend to come check out the river--we will continue our efforts to bring formal opportunities to enjoy this run that will be highly publicized. We have enough people for purposes of the study.

- If you would like to run the river, please send me an email and I can provide more detailed information on logistics and what's happening (I will be out on the river all day with the consultants tomorrow so try to catch me before tomorrow morning). I'm not necessarily making this a secret but if we get the whole regional boating community there it could be a problem and we're not set up to manage that (we'll get to that but right now we are just evaluating flows).

- If you get on the water please make sure you get an early start--remember this is a long 14 mile run. Please do not jam up the road to the put-in. We have consultants who will need to be able to come and go efficiently. Stay out of trouble, be cool, and we'll keep working for formal opportunities to enjoy this river.

- Please contact me with any concerns, questions, suggestions, or complaints.

Thomas O'Keefe
Pacific Northwest Stewardship Director
American Whitewater
3537 NE 87th St.
Seattle, WA 98115

425-417-9012
okeefe@amwhitewater.org



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2007 10:50PM by okeefe.