Volunteers play a vital role at American Whitewater. With a small dedicated staff we increase our footprint many times by relying on passionate volunteers to help move forward our mission.
On Your Local or Favorite River
Is your favorite river threatened by a new dam? Could the access to your favorite run use a little improvement? Could recreational opportunities be improved if you just had a little better notification from an upstream dam operator? Is your state legislature proposing new laws that limit navigability rights? Are you motivated to start a Wild and Scenic campaign to protect your favorite river?
If something will enhance or threaten your ability to enjoy the rivers you love, stand up and volunteer. Many of our projects are driven by motivated volunteers. Staff can provide technical support and assistance to navigate the various regulatory processes, legislation, and management actions that affect rivers you enjoy. Volunteers who are truly interested in seeing a project through often end up representing American Whitewater in their local area–this could you! Contact
info@americanwhitewater.org about your interest in volunteering and we’ll get you sorted out to join our volunteer team.
Update the National Whitewater Inventory, American Whitewater’s Crowdsourced Online River Database
American Whitewater lets its members share their knowledge about rivers with the boating public, river managers, and policy makers. It is a grass-roots online database of river information that is continually updated and improved. Our river database is one of the most comprehensive geospatial databases of any outdoor recreation activity. Your direct first-hand knowledge recorded in our database, gives us a unique ability to quickly and efficiently respond to new threats and opportunities. Great photos are invaluable in documenting and illustrating our use of rivers. When we have brought direct evidence of our use of particular rivers, hydro power projects have been stopped, management plans have been changed, and elected officials have considered our interests in legislation . This is only possible when volunteers step up to provide the information. The more you contribute, the more effective we can be.
The easiest way to help the National Whitewater Inventory (NWI) flourish is to add trip reports to any river page, including text and photos. We love and need new photos! Just log in and click “+ Trip Report” on a river page. If you are just a bit tech savvy and know your rivers really well, please consider adding gages on rivers lacking gages on our site, or adding or editing flow recommendations on rivers with limited or out of date information. You’ll need to log into the American Whitewater website, click the edit pencil above the beta box on any river page, and click on the flow tab to get started.
Hit up the AW streamteam google group with questions.
Volunteer At An American Whitewater Event
American Whitewater has four main events that we host each year and each one takes a substantial amount of volunteer help. Those looking to volunteer should consider these events as the first, best place to do it. We also work with our local affiliate clubs and other nonprofit organizations who put on regional events throughout the year. Check out our events page (link) for more information.
Special Projects
Are you between jobs? Do you have a little time on your hands? Do you have a unique skill set? Are you in need of a research project for school credit? For those who are interested in special projects, American Whitewater staff maintain a list of projects that includes several research and writing projects. Contact us at
info@americanwhitewater.org and we’ll see if we can get you set up.
Not Sure What You Want to Do?
If you don’t have a particular project in mind but you would like to be contacted when something comes up in your region, then get on our volunteer list. We’ll be sure to contact you if something comes up. Please contact us with your own ideas and whenever you see river issues arise.