Our annual Feather River Festival has always served as a venue to celebrate the decades of work American Whitewater has done in the watershed. So it is with great regret that American Whitewater has made the decision to cancel the 2021 September Feather River Races that were scheduled to take place in lieu of the festival. 

As of this notice, the Dixie fire has been burning in the watershed since July and has raced across more than 552,000 acres, burning local communities and is only 31% contained. Plumas National Forest has issued a closure order and map prohibiting going into or being within the Dixie Fire Closure Area until September 30th. In addition, Cal Fire Battalion Chief, Sean Norman, reports highway 70 from Cresta to Twain remains a concern as evidenced byt this video of rock fall near the Rock Creek powerhouse.

Recreational flows for August and September remain on the American Whitewater calendar for now, however, we will notify paddlers of the likelihood of these releases once we have our standing “GO or NO GO” meetings with Pacific Gas & Electric, the U.S. Forest Service and the Ecological Resource Committee. We remain in contact with the managing agencies and our number one concern is, and will be public safety. 

As we navigate the impacts of the Dixie Fire on the North Fork Feather watershed, we extend a huge thank you to Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service for being on the front lines of the wildfire and taking the time to keep American Whitewater informed.