AW's mission “to conserve and restore America’s whitewater resources and enhance opportunities to enjoy them safely” provides direction to our Access Program. Thus we strive to secure access that also ensures long term resource protection. We achieve this conservation objective through education, advising agencies, and sharing information such as that contained in this toolbox. The Access Program is responsible for locating and securing river access locations through land acquisitions and negotiation; tracking and influencing legislation and policies that affect river access; organizing grassroots support and volunteers for everything from legal defense to trail construction; drafting legislation; lobbying; guiding and developing national policies; developing legal strategies; drafting policy positions; and advocating for stronger rights of passage on rivers that flow through private lands (the “navigability” issue).

The navigability research in AW's Access Toolbox serves as a starting point for educating the public about our nation's laws. These laws are not static; they are in constant flux. Therefore, you should seek independent legal counsel regarding your state statutes before relying on our analyses.

Recreation access is likely the greatest unresolved land management issue in America. While conservation, resource protection, and restoration get much attention from federal agencies and recreationists, access is often overlooked and there is often a lack of funding, direction and expertise for working in this frequently contentious arena.

Part of the problem is that recreationists, law enforcement officials, land and river managers and landowners have entirely different expectations about appropriate activities and levels of use. Another part of the access problem is that these individuals also have misunderstandings about the law and their rights, duties, and protections. The bottom line is that most serious access issues are the result of rooted dogmatic differences, which can only be reconciled by the passage of time, education, through careful negotiations and discussions, money and acquisition or the legal system. The most effective means of addressing these issues is to face them proactively and work on easing tensions before they flare into conflicts.

Why Access? American Whitewater's Access Program

• Primer on Navigability Law
  

• American Whitewater's Review of State Navigability Law

• American Whitewater's Review of State Liability Law

• Access Partnerships

• Resolving Access Closures on Private Lands
  

• Resolving Access Closures on Waterfalls
  

• Addressing Barbed Wire and Other Obstructions
  

• Land Acquisition
  

• Access to Flow Information: Protecting a Streamgage