On October 5, 1994, American Whitewater signed a landmark settlement agreement with the New England Power Company, anglers, conservationists, and government agencies regarding the management of the Deerfield River (FERC P-2323). Located in Western Massachusetts, the Deerfield River is a classic whitewater run, and the settlement recognized its recreational, ecological, and community value.
Valued at $27–30 million, with $3.2 million allocated for whitewater mitigation alone, the Deerfield River Settlement Agreement resulted from careful analysis and negotiation and included:
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Guaranteed whitewater releases for paddlers: 106 days per year in the Class III Fife Brook Section and 32 days in the Class IV Monroe Bridge Section.
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Free public access to the river and project-related lands.
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Installation of fish passage facilities at multiple locations.
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Implementation of a wildlife enhancement program on project lands.
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New base flows for river reaches and upstream reservoir levels.
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Establishment of a $100,000 resource protection and enhancement fund for future conservation efforts.
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Conservation easements on 18,000 acres to protect land from development.
This relicensing settlement was the first of its kind in the region and only the second in the country. It set a new standard, giving local stakeholders the ability to shape river management decisions that might otherwise have been made in Washington, D.C., and inspired dozens of similar agreements nationwide.
To navigate this complex relicensing process, a new organization, New England FLOW, was formed with American Whitewater’s support. FLOW built a broad coalition and became the first group to reach a settlement with the power company. Tom Christopher, serving as FLOW secretary and American Whitewater board member, was the primary representative of the paddling community. His dedication, along with the contributions of many others, ensured the success of this effort, including: Bruce Lessels, Rick Hudson, John Valera, Chuck Peabody, Jennifer and Frank Mooney, Tom Foster, Joan and Bill Hildreth, Jim Down, and Norman Sims.
In 1997, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accepted the Deerfield River Settlement Agreement and issued a new 40-year license closely following the agreement’s recommendations. Today, the Deerfield River is celebrated as a New England whitewater classic, and American Whitewater continues to honor this achievement through the annual Deerfield River Festival.
The current hydropower license will expire in 2037 and we anticipate relicensing will get underway around 2030.
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In 2025, FERC issued a new hydropower license to Brookfield Renewable for the Bear Swamp Project including Bear Swamp Pumped Storage and Fife Brook Dam developments. The new license assures that Brookkfield will continue to provide whitewater releases from the Fife Brook Dam on 106 days annually for the next 40 years. The new license will improve access and sanitation at Fife Brook, fix the release starting times between 11 am – noon, create a new take-out trail below Showtime on the Dryway, and limit pumped storage operations on Dryway release days. Great River Hydro’s license for the Dryway and other projects on the Deerfield expires in 2037, and we will be active in that relicensing.