Special Whitewater Release Canceled–Rhinelander Wisconsin

By John Gangemi

Due to insufficient water levels upstream in the Wisconsin River the Saturday, October 11 Rhinelander Whitewater Release has been canceled. The Paper Mill that manages the water levels on the Wisconsin River, has informed the utility that there is not enough flow in the headwaters of the Wisconsin River to support a whitewater release. On several occasions the paper mill has gone above and beyond their requirement to provide us water for recreational releases and they do not take it lightly to cancel this release. We can only agree with their decision since the last thing we want is to get a negative reputation of draining Boom Lake or having other negative impacts on the resource. It is simply one of the realities of being in the headwaters of the Wisconsin River.

This is our first cancellation and we are very disappointed, primarily because of the inconvenience it causes paddlers to change their schedule on such short notice. We are all very sorry to cancel this release!

We do ask for your help to contact anyone you know that was planning to come here for the release and either does not have email or who is likely not

to check it in time.

For those not planning to paddle it is still “Octoberfest” in downtown Rhinelander. Polka bands and Haaker Pschorr Oktoberfest beer are the usual attractions. I can’t vouch for the quality of the beer. . .or the polka!