Yellowstone Paddling Legislation Reintroduced with NPS Input

Wyoming Representative Cynthia Lummis introduced legislation last week that will require the National Park Service to study and reconsider their management of non-commercial paddling in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.  The legislation is the result of significant dialog among the Parks, conservation-oriented paddlers, Representative Lummis, and others. 

“The legislation improves upon similar legislation introduced last year by tying the study to federal funding, excluding consideration of commercial paddling, ensuring that the legislation supports Park Service policy and management, and by not requiring study of all streams regardless of size and desirability,” noted Aaron Pruzan, a local paddler, conservationist, and past American Whitewater Board Member.  “These measures ensure the bill will not threaten the national parks, or the National Park Service’s ability to manage them responsibly. 

In fact, this legislation is intended to help the Parks do their job.  All national parks with rivers allow, manage, and routinely monitor and study paddling use.  Yellowstone National Park has prohibited river paddling since 1950 when it was banned to curtail overfishing, and Grand Teton followed suit in the early 60’s with the exception of the Snake River where paddling is allowed.  A study and a fresh look is long overdue, and the funding and collaborative spirit behind this legislation will help Yellowstone and Grand Teton catch up with other parks.

Paddling rivers is a pre-historic and historic way of traversing wild landscapes across North America, including in the Yellowstone ecosystem.  Lewis and Clark explored the Missouri and Columbia River systems by boat, thus opening westward expansion, and many followed. In modern times it has continued as a sustainable form of healthy outdoor recreation enjoyed by many Americans.  Agencies like the National Park Service welcome the public to experience the lands and waters they manage in canoes, kayaks, and rafts, and have a full range of management tools to ensure the use is compatible with preservation and other goals.

The paddling prohibitions in Yellowstone and Grand Teton have prevented generations of Americans from experiencing the Parks’ rivers.  Local citizens have been especially impacted, and have organized to support the new legislation. The American Packrafting Association and local conservation leader and past American Whitewater Board Member Aaron Pruzan have been instrumental in developing a legislative solution that aims to empower the Parks to take a fresh look at paddling.

The National Park Service has not shared their official opinion of the bill, but American Whitewater is hopeful that the legislative process can produce a bi-partisan bill that has the support of the Agency. We’ll be working with the NPS, local paddlers, and other groups toward this end.  We are confident that paddling can be sustainably managed in these parks, as it is in all other parks containing rivers.     

 “We need a study to put science first and to inform a dialog around reconsidering paddling in these Parks,” noted Kevin Colburn, American Whitewater’s National Stewardship Director, “and ultimately provide a new generation of American citizens the chance to have the profound experience of floating down some of the beautiful and unique rivers through one of our nation’s iconic landscapes.”