Volunteers of the Month

Restoring rivers through the FERC hydropower relicensing process demands significant time commitments to participate in the regulatory process.  Paddlers on the Spokane River in Washington have taken a team approach to cover all the meetings in the relicensing of Avista utility’s multiple hydropower dams scattered along approximately 50 miles of the river.  John Patrouch, John Karpenko, Paul Delaney, Robbi and  Vicki Castleberry have each dedicated considerable time to this collaborative process serving as representatives for the paddling community.  The Spokane River contains a number of outstanding play spots between Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and Spokane as well as several reaches for river runners.  In September and October these volunteers helped orchestrate a whitewater controlled flow study that focused on the quality of each specific play site at a range of flows as well as a range of flows for the various river reaches.   With this information in hand this team of dedicated volunteers is now collaborating with the utility and local stakeholders on an annual flow schedule that provides a range of whitewater opportunities.  The commitment and dedication of these paddlers will make a huge difference for the Spokane paddling community for years to come.