Speaking Up For Rivers at the Nation's Capitol

Last month, four members of American Whitewater’s Stewardship team—Kevin Colburn, Scott Harding, Kestrel Kunz, and Thomas O’Keefe—visited our nation’s capital to advocate for durable protections for key whitewater rivers across the country. Our trip was part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Hill Week, which drew river advocates from around the country. The event was organized by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Coalition, which American Whitewater co-founded in 2018. American Whitewater met with five federal agencies and 35 congressional offices to advocate for 14 different river protection bills and regional conservation efforts covering watersheds across nine states and thousands of rivers. 

In addition to seeking these Wild and Scenic River designations, we also met with several Congressional offices to advocate for sensible public access to rivers following wildfires, issues caused by prolonged drought in the southwest, and for much needed actions to ensure the safety of hydropower dams in California and across the country.

Our most powerful meetings were those where we were joined by local constituents including Tribal leaders, local elected officials, veterans, and river recreationists. It was an honor to advocate for these rivers alongside our local champions in Montana, New Mexico, and Arizona. 

In total, we advocated for over 5,560 miles of newly protected rivers and we are working to ensure that these bills get included in a viable package and signed into law this Congress. We won’t be able to accomplish this without our dedicated volunteers and members that speak up for these rivers. Please follow along and consider joining American Whitewater as a member to support this broad sweeping river protection work.  

Campaigns We Advocated for in Our Meetings:

• Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forests Act: This bill would designate 480 miles of new Wild and Scenic Rivers in Northwestern California’s Klamath Mountains and Coast Range. New Wild and Scenic Rivers would include the East Fork North Fork Trinity River, Canyon Creek, numerous Eel River tributaries, along with Redwood Creek, an overnight whitewater run that flows through the tallest living trees in the world in Redwood National Park.

• Central Coast Heritage Protection Act (CA): This bill would designate 231 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers including the upper reaches of Piru Creek, a rare waterway for the region that provides outstanding wilderness whitewater less than an hour drive from downtown Los Angeles.

• San Gabriel Mountains Foothills and Rivers Protection Act (CA): This bill would designate 46 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers in Southern California including the San Gabriel and its primary forks.

• Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (WA): This bill would designate 464 miles of new Wild and Scenic Rivers that would include 19 rivers and their major tributaries. Rivers like the Sitkum, Matheny Creek, Sol Duc, Elwha, and South Fork Skokomish offer outstanding opportunities for whitewater paddlers to experience old-growth forests and fern-covered gorges.

• River Democracy Act (OR): This bill would designate 3,215 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers across the State of Oregon, protecting more than 500 rivers and streams. This bill includes several tributaries of the Illinois River like Indigo Creek, extension to the Sandy Wild and Scenic River that includes the Marmot Dam site, Steamboat Creek and other tributaries in the Umpqua Watershed, the North Fork Clackamas and other tributaries of the Clackamas River, and many other rivers across the state enjoyed for recreation and recognized for their ecological values.

• M.H. Dutch Salmon Greater Gila Wild and Scenic River Act: This legislation would designate approximately 446 miles of river segments in the Gila and San Francisco watersheds, as Wild and Scenic permanently protecting these rivers in their free-flowing conditions.

• Montana Headwaters Legacy Act: This legislation would forever preserve 384 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers adding 20 new rivers to the Wild and Scenic Rivers system. The bill includes popular paddling rivers like the Gallatin, Smith, and Madison, as well as remote streams like the Boulder and Stillwater rivers.

• Smith River National Recreation Area Expansion Act: This legislation would designate 75 miles of rivers as Wild and Scenic, including Baldface Creek, Chrome Creek and nearby streams. It would extend the existing National Recreation into the North Fork Smith River Watershed providing expanded watershed protection.

• Oregon Recreation Enhancement Act: This legislation represents the unfinished business from Oregon Wildlands Act that originally included the designation of tributaries of the Rogue River and the mainstem Molalla as Wild and Scenic. While the designation of the tributaries was accomplished through a separate legislative vehicle in 2019, the enhanced watershed protections for the Molalla River corridor and the Kalmiopsis region, including the Rogue Canyon, have not been completed.

• North Fork French Broad (NC): This campaign is focused on introducing legislation to protect 3.2 miles of the North Fork French Broad River on the Pisgah National Forest in Western North Carolina. The North Fork is at the headwaters of much of Western North Carolina and its gorge is home to a classic advanced whitewater run. 

• Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act (CO): This campaign would protect just over 50 miles of the mainstem Dolores River through a National Conservation Area and a Special Management Area downstream from Mcphee Reservoir. 

• Dolores River Canyons National Monument (CO): This campaign is working to protect over sixty river miles and the surrounding landscape as a National Monument through a presidential proclamation. The Monument would be adjacent to and downstream from the proposed National Conservation Area in order to secure robust protections for the entire river system below McPhee Reservoir. 

• Crystal River (CO): American Whitewater is leading a true grassroots campaign to protect nearly 40 miles of the Crystal River. Our staff, alongside community leaders, are exploring whether the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act should be used to protect the Crystal River alongside other protective measures. 

• Upper Verde (AZ): This campaign is focused on introducing legislation to protect 76 miles of the Upper Verde River and two tributaries as Wild and Scenic Rivers.

• Colorado Cataract Canyon (UT): While we work to protect rivers, our mission also includes enhancing opportunities to enjoy them. With the drop in reservoir levels the National Park Service has had challenges maintaining and providing a take-out for Cataract Canyon. This is further complicated by jurisdictional issues between Canyonlands National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. American Whitewater is committed to working with the National Park Service to provide river runners and outfitters with access to this multi-day river trip both in the short and long-term.

Rivers Advocated For: 

Dolores, Crystal, Upper Verde, Gila River watershed, Colorado Cataract Canyon, Green River, Rivers of Olympic Peninsula, Owyhee, Smith, Illinois, Clackamas, Skagit, Umpqua, North Fork French Broad River, 20 Montana rivers, and 45 rivers and streams across California. 

Agency Issues Discussed: 

Release of eligible streams, big picture river protection opportunities, partnerships, river management and more

Meetings with Members: 

Rep. Vasquez, Sen. Heinrich, Rep. Stansbury, Rep. Curtis, Sen. Tester, Sen. Daines, Rep Zinke, Sen. Sinema, Sen. Kelly  

Office Meetings:

Sen. Lujan, Rep. Leger Fernández, Rep. Crane, Rep. Neguse, Sen. Bennet, Sen. Hickenlooper, Sen. Cantwell, Sen. Murray, Sen. Merkley, Sen. Wyden, Sen. Padilla, Rep. LaMalfa, Rep. Huffman, Rep. Kiley, Rep. Carbajal, Rep. Kilmer, Rep. Glusenkamp-Perez, Rep. Larsen, Rep. DelBene, Rep. Smith, Rep. Jayapal, Rep. Strickland, Rep. Hoyle, Rep. Rosendale, Sen. Tillis, Congressman Edwards, HNR Republican staff gila, HNR Democrat staff Verde, , Senate Energy and Natural Resources Republican Committee staff, coalition natural resources meetings 

High Level Agency Meetings:

Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Whitehouse

Constituents Brought:

3 (Gila) 4 (Verde) 3 (Montana)

States Covered:

NM, CO, UT, AZ, WA, OR, CA, NC, MT

Rep. Crane (AZ-2)

Sen. Kelly (AZ)

Sen. Sinema (AZ)

Rep. LaMalfa (CA-1)

Rep. Huffman (CA-2)

Rep. Kiley (CA-3)

Rep. Carbajal (CA-24)

Sen. Padilla (CA)

Sen. Bennet (CO)

Sen. Hickenlooper (CO)

Rep. Neguse (CO-2)

Sen. Daines (MT)

Sen. Tester (MT)

Rep. Zinke (MT-1)

Sen. Tillis (NC)

Rep. Edwards (NC-11)

Rep. Leger Fernandez (NM-3)

Sen. Heinrich (NM)

Rep. Stansbury (NM-1)

Rep. Vasquez (NM-2)

Sen. Lujan (NM)

Sen. Merkley (OR)

Sen. Wyden (OR)

Rep. Hoyle (OR-4)

Rep. Curtis (UT-3)

Sen. Cantwell (WA)

Rep. DelBene (WA-1)

Rep. Larsen (WA-2)

Rep. Glusenkamp-Perez (WA-3)

Rep. Kilmer (WA-6)

Rep. Jayapal (WA-7)

Rep. Smith (WA-9)

Rep. Strickland (WA-10)

Sen. Murray (WA)