Last May American Whitewater and our colleagues at Friends of the River asked for your help to stop El Dorado Irrigation District's (EID) proposed modification of Water Right Permit 21112. This proposal contained changes to water diversion points for 17,000-acre feet of water per year that would have been detrimental to 50 miles of whitewater on the South Fork American River. This included our favorite Class II-V whitewater reaches on Kyburz, Golden Gate, Slab Creek, Chili Bar, Coloma to Greenwood & the Gorge. We are happy to report your overwhelming response generated 1065 comments helping to stop this proposal in its tracks.

The deluge of comments in opposition to this ill-conceived scheme provided the needed leverage for Ron Stork from Friends of the River, Chris Shutes from California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and Jonas Minton from the Planning & Conservation League to go into a meeting with Jim Abercrombie, EID District General Manager. Suffice to say YOUR ACTIONS got their attention and provided the backdrop for a very frank and productive discussion with management. Immediately following this meeting, EID General Counsel communicated that the additional points of diversion will be dropped from the modification proposal pending further evaluation.

American Whitewater and our fellow Conservation Groups send out our appreciation to the paddlers who took action to stop the diversion threats to the whitewater river we love. We will remain vigilant to EID's Water Right Permit and any future threat to the whitewater on the South Fork American River.

Photo: Carson Watts on Kyburz by Trevor Croft - Rafting Magazine