Deerfield River: The Next 40 Years of Whitewater (MA)

A decade of advocacy efforts in the hydropower project licensing on the Deerfield River in Massachusetts has finally resulted in a new hydropower license that will preserve and expand whitewater boating and angling opportunities for the next 40 years. The hydropower dam located on the Deerfield near Charlemont will be required to continue releasing whitewater flows on 106 days annually that support rafting, kayaking, canoeing, and tubing by more than 50,000 river recreationists annually on the Fife Brook section and is the focus of the outdoor recreation economy in the region. 

The new license builds on the work of trailblazing river advocates in the mid-1990s by improving access and facilities used by paddlers, anglers, and others both on and off the water. The new license also provides more predictable start times for boating releases, limits the ability of the dam owner Brookfield Renewable to fluctuate impoundment levels above the dam through its pumped storage project operations that affect boating opportunities, requires the construction of a new take-out on the Dryway, and other access improvements. Whitewater releases on the Deerfield River are the result of 40 years of effective river advocacy that created the advocacy model, resulting in scheduled releases and river restoration on more than 100 rivers nationally.