Holtwood Whitewater Park to Open this Month (PA)

The schedule for the first year of operation of the Holtwood Whitewater Park has been posted on the dam owner's website. American Whitewater and our local partners negotiated the construction of the park and 264 hours of releases annually as mitigation for impacts of the Holtwood Hydroelectric Project.  The first scheduled release is on Saturday March 14, 2015.  There are several important timeframes and considerations paddlers should be aware of for the 2015 season:

• December-February:  No releases because of frequent ice.
• March: Releases OK
• April-June:  Shad passage season (no releases)
• July-September: Rare plant growing season.  Unscheduled evening releases every day the river flow is between 31,000 and 61,500 cfs.  Average of 17 evenings each summer. Scheduled releases possible in future years based on plant monitoring.
• October-November: Releases OK

Releases that are scheduled for times when there is ice on the river or when very high flows occur (> 6 feet over the flashboards on the dam) will be rescheduled.

For more information check out the Holtwood Whitewater Park FaceBook page.  

Enjoy!