American Whitewater Secures Safer, Smarter Management for Slab Creek Run (CA)

American Whitewater just secured an important win for whitewater recreation on the Class IV+ Slab Creek Run of the South Fork American River in California.

Following our sustained advocacy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) modified the approach to managing whitewater use on the run by lowering the congestion threshold that determines when the hydropower project operator must provide up to 12 additional whitewater release days. The decision aligns whitewater management with on-river safety and the quality of the boating experience as use grows.

"FERC’s decision ensures that additional whitewater release days are added before on-river crowding becomes problematic or unsafe, rather than relying on the dam owner's misguided and inflated daily total metric that would have resulted in unacceptable crowding," explains Scott Harding at American Whitewater.

American Whitewater’s engagement on Slab Creek dates back to the early 2000s, when the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (SMUD) Upper American River Project—a large, multi-facility hydropower project—was undergoing federal relicensing. With the new license issued in 2014, American Whitewater successfully secured the first-ever scheduled whitewater releases on the Slab Creek Run. This opened the door to boating opportunities that had long been unavailable, despite the run being located just upriver of the heavily used Chili Bar Run. Since Slab Creek releases began in 2016, boaters have been enjoying one of California’s most scenic and challenging whitewater runs.

Our work did not stop once releases began. American Whitewater has remained closely involved in implementation of all the whitewater requirements in the hydropower license—advocating for improved take-out access, refining release timing and flows to better match boater preferences, and addressing safety concerns. This hands-on engagement mirrors our other work on the hydropower project, including on the Ice House Run on South Silver Creek, where we similarly obtained new releases and pressed for use thresholds grounded in on-river conditions.

By 2025, the final major remaining piece of Slab Creek whitewater implementation was determining how crowded the run must become before additional whitewater release days are required. While SMUD proposed a daily threshold of 95 launches, American Whitewater analyzed SMUD’s own monitoring data and showed that boating use is clustered in time. As a result, on-river crowding can occur well before daily totals reach that level. Rather than a single daily total, peak hourly launch rates are what determine when too many boaters are on the river at the same time. In approving the plan, FERC modified the threshold to focus on hourly launch rates. The adopted standard of 24 launches per hour accounts for typical whitewater launch patterns and more accurately captures when crowding actually occurs.

Today, average use on Slab Creek is about 27 launches per release day, leaving room for growth before the hourly threshold is reached. Based on observed launch-time clustering, American Whitewater’s analysis indicates that days with roughly 55–70 launches are likely to reach or exceed 24 launches in a single hour. In fact, the hourly threshold was already met twice in 2024, on days when about 50 boaters launched during the eight-hour release window.

If the hourly threshold is met on average over a five-year period, SMUD will be required to add up to 12 additional whitewater release days per year—beyond the six days currently provided—and those added releases may include October dates, when most California rivers are otherwise too low to offer good boating. American Whitewater’s advocacy, reflected in FERC’s decision, ensures that as use continues to grow, Slab Creek remains a safe, accessible, and enjoyable whitewater experience. We will announce 2026 release dates as soon as they are determined.

Current and Potential Whitewater Release Days on Slab Creek Run

🟩 Spring releases   🟧 October releases   — No releases

📷 Darin McQuoid