Articles

The North Fork of the French Broad, a class IV+ creeking destination in western North Carolina, is now eligible for National Wild and Scenic River designation! More work is needed to help this river gain its well-deserved Wild and Scenic status. Once designated, the North Fork of the French Broad will forever be protected from development projects like dams – a huge victory for a river that was almost lost to them twice in the last 60 years. Explore this

American Whitewater, Outdoor Alliance California, Tuolumne River Trust and the Tuolumne River Outfitters spearheaded a recreation roundtable to highlight recreation and access issues on the Wild and Scenic Tuolumne River with Congressman Tom McClintock and his senior staff. Our goal for the two-day event was to build appreciation for this iconic stretch of river among all the stakeholders who manage, recreate, and depend on it for the local economy. We also wanted to call attention to last winter’s atmospheric rivers

Gauley Fest 2023 is almost here! Our largest membership drive and biggest whitewater event of the year is just a few weeks away Nicholas County Veterans Memorial Park, Summersville, WV.   The festival grounds open up September 14th for weekend camping onsite, with our vendor market and live music running thru the weekend, plus our infamous silent auction and an 80s theme party Saturday, September 16th to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Gauley Fest! We will wrap up the festival

We are so pleased to announce that our regional program in the Southern Rockies is now going to be co-lead by Kestrel Kunz and Hattie Johnson. This shared leadership approach allows each of us to take on a more focused aspect of American Whitewater’s mission. Kestrel will now be the Director of Protection and lead our work on proactive management and policy that will protect the rivers in the Southern Rockies as they are now. Hattie will be the Director

On August 25-26, American Whitewater will be gathering our community on the Colorado River at Pumphouse Rec Area to celebrate our work in the southern Rockies. While we won’t be hosting an official race through Gore this year, we still will gather and enjoy river time together as another river season is closing out in Colorado. Join us to camp, renew your membership and have a chance to win some awesome prizes. And we won’t let you go without another

Washington State Department of Ecology has initiated a rulemaking process to establish the first Outstanding Resource Waters in the State. In 2022 American Whitewater joined other river conservation groups in the state in nominating the state’s first Outstanding Resource Waters: the Cascade (Skagit watershed), Green (Toutle watershed), and Napeequa (Wenatchee) rivers. The Washington State Department of Ecology has opened a 60-day public comment period to establish the level of public support for these designations and your voice is important. Outstanding

After a decade of advocacy to restore a section of the Connecticut River in Massachusetts and expand whitewater boating opportunities, American Whitewater signed a settlement agreement with FirstLight Power as part of the FERC relicensing of the Turners Falls and Northfield Mountain hydropower projects. American Whitewater was joined by affiliates Appalachian Mountain Club and New England FLOW along with supporting outfitters Zoar Outdoor and Crab Apple Whitewater in achieving this historic agreement. The Settlement Agreement will provide boatable flows in

Back in December of 2022, American Whitewater shared a survey to gather paddlers’ opinions on the permit systems that are used to manage use on multi-day river trips. This survey was designed to investigate both satisfaction with, and preference for various permitting systems in the U.S., as well as specific attitudes towards these systems. A huge number, 1,261 paddlers, were able to fully respond to the survey, answering both general questions regarding permitting systems as well as specific questions about

Boatable flows on the lower Dolores River petered out at the end of June as downstream releases from McPhee dam matched the inflows into the reservoir. Boaters were about to enjoy a total of 55 days of flows over 800 cfs and an extended high flow period (over 3,200 cfs) for 28 days – an entire month. These flows were thanks to an extremely healthy snowpack in the southwest, especially low elevation snow that provided early season high water in

American Whitewater recently filed a formal objection to the newly revised Ashley National Forest management plan. The objection challenges the Forest Service’s decision to permanently release 28 rivers and streams from protection as potential Wild and Scenic Rivers after previously finding them eligible for such protections. Only two eligible streams retained protected status in the plan. The Forest is the first to attempt this release of river protections under the 2012 planning rule, which requires protection of eligible streams. The

For the first time since 2019, boatable flows have been released from McPhee dam into the lower Dolores. A record setting snowpack in the basin has allowed for a long season with extended high flows. If you got a chance to experience this stunning river, or have a trip planned for the near future, we would love to hear more about your experience. Your responses to this survey are incredibly helpful in working with dam operators on structuring releases. Please

The Colorado Supreme Court issued their decision on the Hill v. Warsewa case after hearing oral arguments just last month. The justices unanimously found that Roger Hill did not have standing to seek a legally protected interest to pursue his claim “that a river segment was navigable for title at statehood and belongs to the State.” This question in front of the state supreme court was a narrow one. The justice’s found that he did not, that “Hill has no

Our membership is growing and so is our team! If you or someone you know would love to work with American Whitewater and help serve our members and our mission, please encourage them to apply today. The Membership & Operations Specialist is a new position that will primarily work with our Membership and Engagement Director Bethany Overfield and help support the necessary programmatic, administrative, and data management tasks associated with maintaining and growing the organization’s member and donor base. Additional

The newest edition of the American Whitewater Journal is now available online. If you’re an American Whitewater member that receives the print version of our journal, it should have landed in your mailbox last week (if not, it’ll be there soon!).  We have a wonderful team of talented folks that work on publishing this journal five times a year, but at its heart the American Whitewater Journal is a volunteer publication that relies on community members to submit their stories, photos, art

Four spots on our four-day float trip on the Rogue River in southern Oregon just opened up. Trip dates are June 20th – 23rd. This is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy one of the country’s first Wild and Scenic Rivers with American Whitewater staff and similar likeminded river lovers.  As one of the original eight Wild and Scenic Rivers in the country, the Rogue is an outstanding classroom for American Whitewater’s river stewardship program. Staff shares current projects, their challenges and