American Whitewater’s Conservation and Access Easement Policy

Watauga River(NC) – Blackwater River(WV) – Elkhorn River(KY) – Alberton Gorge(MT) – Coosa River(AL) – Big Sandy(WV) – Black River(VT) – Cartecay River (GA) – Hidalgo Falls (TX)

American Whitewater is a national non-profit river conservation and recreation organization. We are dedicated to conserving and restoring America’s whitewater resources and enhancing opportunities to enjoy them safely. Since our founding in 1957, American Whitewater has grown to include over 8,500 members and more than 180 affiliate clubs, representing more than 80,000 kayakers and canoeists nationwide.

As a result of American Whitewater’s special tax-exempt status, many donors receive tax breaks for protecting rivers and river access through gifts of conservation easements. We have a legal and ethical obligation for ensuring that our river protection program results in real public benefits, and that the river protection obligations which we assume in perpetuity are realistic. Therefore, we examine all projects with care.

Protecting America’s rivers means maintaining access, water quality, and the wild and scenic characteristics that our members enjoy. At American Whitewater, we generally focus our efforts on protecting smaller land parcels ranging in size from 1 to 5 acres. However, we have also worked successfully on public easement acquisitions that are as large as 500,000 acres, such as the Alberton Gorge in Montana. We are committed to protecting the property and easements that we acquire, and ensuring that restrictions on future land and river use will not be unduly difficult to enforce.

Considerations that contribute to significant public benefit of land & river protection:

Several conditions contribute significant public benefits to the public for land and river protection. Sometimes a single condition is sufficient for our involvement, as on John’s Creek in Virginia where obtaining access was our priority. At other times, our participation is based on a variety of factors, as on the Alberton Gorge where we have succeeded in protecting the entire river corridor for wildlife and scenic viewing opportunities. American Whitewater’s Access Committee evaluates each proposal for its own merits, and bases its decision on a careful investigation of the property and the real public benefits that it provides. The conditions that we are primarily interested in are whether:

• The property protects wild and scenic qualities of the river.


• The property provides valuable public access to the river, where public access does not exist.


• The property protects unique whitewater resources, such as waterfalls or rapids.


• The property includes important wildlife habitat or buffers wildlife habitat from development.


• The property remains in a relatively natural, undisturbed condition.


• The property protects wetlands, which contribute to the water quality of the river.

Considerations that may preclude our involvement

There are a few circumstances which may prevent our Committee from pursuing an acquisition. Such a decision is not a criticism of the proposal. Rather, it reflects the Committee’s evaluation that the property does not fit within our mission or poses significant management difficulties that exceed our organization’s resources.

• The property does not provide public access to a waterway.


• The property will have significant management problems exceeding our protection abilities.


• The property is zoned for development that conflicts with the conservation easement language.


• The property will be exorbitantly expensive to maintain.


• The property title is being litigated, or is unclear.